A warning from history to the present

Racism and persecution must be condemned and confronted to prevent the flames of genocide ever taking hold again.

As she recalled the extermination of her family, it was and still is difficult to forget the

way she delivered her testimony. Strikingly brave, not once did this Holocaust survivor's voice or lip quiver as she explained how hatred had stripped her of humanity. As she talked about the millions - Jews, dissidents, the disabled, homosexuals, Slavs, clergy, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma and many others - who perished at the hands of Nazism, her eyes could not hide the maelstrom of pain which time can never heal. She closed her testimony with these words: "Remember them, remember them all and never let this happen again". A warning from history to the present.

Today, vigils and memorials will be held across Europe to commemorate the countless and diverse millions murdered during the Holocaust; European leaders vowing to never let such evils be repeated. Evil is not, however, easily suppressed and, as demonstrated by the destruction of a Roma Holocaust memorial site in Glasgow and anti-Semitic graffiti sprawled on North London shops last December, fires of hate still burn.

A small flame started by, for example, a group of fringe political extremists may grow into a fire as fuel is added by hostile media or by surging right-wing populism dividing communities. If discriminatory language becomes mainstream and or persecution of minorities is accepted as the norm, whether through segregation, police brutality, denial of equal opportunities or myth-pedaling, the flames will rise higher and the fire will become hotter. The danger is when fires of hate spiral out of control and engulf societies, setting the stage for genocide. 

As a consequence, it is important that Holocaust Memorial Day does not become a singular day of remembrance, instead a living defence of minorities who are still facing persecution. I have seen the pictures drawn by children at Terezín before they were murdered, the fields of the Lidice memorial where senseless crimes against humanity took place and the vast darkness of Auschwitz. The Holocaust is a warning from history to the present, instructing us that racism and persecution must be condemned and confronted to prevent the flames of genocide ever taking hold again.