This week Alex Sobel MP signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment, in doing so pledging his commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust as well as paying tribute to the extraordinary Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people today.
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked annually on 27th January, the anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In the lead up to and on Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of commemorative events will be arranged by schools, faith groups and community organisations across the country, remembering all the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. The theme for this year’s commemorations is ‘Torn from Home’.
After signing the Book of Commitment, Alex Sobel MP commented:
“At the start of the Second World War my family was forced to flee from Poland and Lithuania to escape Nazi genocide so remembering the Holocaust is deeply personal to me.
Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity for people from Leeds North West and across the country to reflect on the tragic events of the Holocaust. As the Holocaust moves from living history, to ‘just’ history, it becomes ever more important that we take the time to remember the victims and also pay tribute to the survivors. I would encourage my constituents to show their support for such an important day.”
Karen Pollock MBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said:
“The Holocaust did not start in the gas chambers but with hate filled words. Our mission is to educate young people from every background about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance. We are very grateful to Alex Sobel for signing the Book of Commitment, signalling a continued commitment to remembering the victims of the Holocaust as well as challenging antisemitism, prejudice and bigotry in all its forms.”
Alex Sobel also spoke at the Holocaust Mamorial Day debate in Parliament. He paid tribute to Lord Dubs, who had come to the UK on Kindertransport and discussed the online abuse that he had received after Holocaust Memorial Day last year.
“I would like to pay tribute to somebody who used to sit here on these Benches who has a similar story: Lord Dubs. He also came here on the Kindertransport, and this year’s theme of Torn from Home is very apt, because he has done so much work for modern-day refugees and to bring modern-day children to this country. We should recognise his work and all he has done.
On that point, I spoke in last year’s Holocaust Memorial Day debate and the footage was put on Channel 4’s Facebook page. People said that I was a fifth columnist, that I was not fit to sit in the British Parliament and that I was not properly British. We need to fight against it.”