For a better future: Holocaust Memorial Day 2025
Oliver Robertson reflects on two national events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2025.
I've written before about Quaker involvement in Holocaust Memorial Day. This year my involvement has been much more direct, as I attended two in person national events reflecting on this and other recognised genocides.
This year sees the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp – though, as one of the speakers noted, liberation implies that people are now free. In fact, inward freedom comes not because the past is behind us, but because of how we carry the past with us into the present.
Learning from the past
Always, at these events, there is the harrowing – but necessary – testimony of individual survivors. At an event in Lambeth Palace (the London base of the archbishop of Canterbury) run by the Council of Christians and Jews, participants heard from Martin Stern, who was born in the Netherlands and arrested by the Nazis while at nursery school. His sister was arrested aged just one.
At the national commemoration organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, alongside Holocaust survivors, we heard from Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) who described the family separation, death and theft of a normal childhood that the genocide wrought. When his father was taken to a camp, said Smajo Bešo, “I didn't understand what it meant, but I understood what it was not to have a dad".
As part of this year's national commemoration, I was asked to be one of 80 people to be part of the candle procession at the start and end of the event. The rehearsals earlier in the day meant that there was a lot of waiting around, but you get to meet the other people invited. I spoke to teachers, a police chief constable, faith leaders, museum staff, a small businessman, and firefighters.
There was a real sense that this was an effort to bring a cross-section of the community together, for this to be something we can all agree and work on together. That importance of a shared understanding was noted during the day, with one survivor saying they continue to tell their story so that the truth of it doesn't get turned into one narrative among other (false) ones. It is too important to be denied.
For a better future
The other aspect of Holocaust Memorial Day is working to prevent future genocides. “Intolerance starts from childhood", said Holocaust survivor Rachel Levy. “We must teach kindness."
That long-term approach is something that Quakers work for, including through our peace education work with schools and a new free course with the Open University. Many groups also provide Holocaust-specific materials, and in his speech at the national commemoration, Prime Minister Keir Starmer committed to all schoolchildren being able to hear recorded survivor testimony.
But there are also actions with more immediate payoffs. Spending time with people from different faiths and backgrounds helps improve everyone's understanding of difference. We saw a video of young people planting trees in a community garden. “Planting a tree is an act of hope," in the words of one contributor.
And as people of faith we can remember the lessons we have been taught through history, perhaps best explained by Jesus: “Love your neighbour as yourself". It is a powerful reminder, as recollections of the Holocaust and other Nazi persecution move ever more from memory into history, of the need to remember the humanity of all people. Never let anyone say that someone doesn't matter.
Find resources to mark this year's anniversary from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
