Wednesday January 29th 2025
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Luke Jackson
This week Kirsty McNeill, Scottish Labour and Co-operative MP for Midlothian, signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment, pledging to remember those who were murdered during the Holocaust and paying tribute to survivors and their families.
Holocaust Memorial Day falls on 27th January, the liberation of the infamous former Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.
2025 is a significant anniversary year, marking 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps of Europe. With survivors becoming older and frailer, this is likely to be the last significant anniversary at which Holocaust survivors will be present, and able to share their eye-witness testimony. As the Holocaust moves from living memory to history, this Holocaust Memorial Day presents an opportunity to bring the Holocaust to the fore of our national consciousness.
After signing the Book of Commitment, Kirsty McNeill, Scottish Labour and Co-operative MP for Midlothian, commented:
“Holocaust Memorial Day presents an important opportunity to reflect on the darkest times of European history. I’ve had the privilege of meeting extraordinary survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people, as well as with Holocaust educators in Scotland such as the Scottish Jewish Archives Center who communicate pain of this magnitude with incredible care.
We sometimes think of the Holocaust as history, forgetting that it is also about people we love coping with a murder in the family, here and now. This pain is today’s, the obligation of memory is today’s, the moral imperative to fight antisemitism is today’s.
It was an honour to sign the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment, pledging to never allow the stories of survivors and their families to be forgotten”.
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said:
“This year, on Holocaust Memorial Day, we come together to mark 80 years since the liberation of the extermination and concentration camps of Europe. We remember the
six million Jewish men, women, and children who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators and we honour those who survived and rebuilt their lives after enduring
unimaginable horrors.
The images and accounts that emerged at liberation revealed the full scale of the Nazis’ attempt to annihilate the Jewish people and this gave rise to the enduring call ‘Never
Again.’ This phrase embodies the hope that the Holocaust would serve as a stark warning to future generations of the consequences of unchecked hatred and antisemitism.
As we mark this significant anniversary, the lessons of the Holocaust remain as urgent as ever. With survivors becoming fewer and frailer, and with antisemitism continuing to surge across the world – we must all commit to remembering the six million Jewish victims and must take action to ensure anti-Jewish racism is never again allowed to thrive.”
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