PM speech at the Holocaust Educational Trust: 16 September 2024

Delivered on: 16 September 2024 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

Ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen, Chief Rabbi…

It's an honour to be here with you this evening.

It is important to be with you this evening.

Thank you, Craig for that kind introduction.

And of course a huge thank you…

On behalf of everyone here tonight…

To Karen Pollock…

And all the team at the Holocaust Educational Trust.

For over 35 years,

This world-leading charity…

Has been supporting hundreds of survivors…

Training thousands of teachers…

And educating tens of thousands of our young people.

And you do it with an energy and an urgency…

That is both inspiring…

And sadly, needed now more than ever.

And I have met some of the ambassadors you have seen yourselves, so many inspiring people in the room with us this evening. Brimming with a determination to ensure the stories are told again and again, taking on the mantle themselves.

And earlier this year at one of your events…

I met Manfred Goldberg…

Reliving the sheer horror of his experience…

…including losing his brother Herman.

I can barely imagine the courage it takes. To tell that story not once, but over and over again because it is necessary because it is hard, so so hard, and so important…

But like so many survivors…

He does it for one reason: So we might learn and never forget.

And when I was speaking to Janine earlier this evening. It reminded me - of listening to a survivor in Camden, when I was in secondary school - where I live - a school we know very well - a boys secondary school and a survivors was speaking an at assembly - boys came in 11-18 noisy boisterous , hard to calm down, sitting down they didn't know what they were about to hear.

And they started speaking.

Nobody said to the boys shh.

They just fell silent, totally silent and still and I witnessed it myself - this whole group of boys who had been rowdy minutes before totally silent. Totally absorbed completely listening to what they were being told.

Manfred that is the power of what you are doing, that is why it is so important. Every boy I sat with at that school took it in and what was being said and I will never ever forget it.

And before I go on…I know Manfred and Janine are here.

In fact, all survivors that are with us tonight…

As Prime Minister, speaking for the whole country, I just want to say an enormous and heartfelt thank you for what you do.

I am really proud there are so many of my cabinet here with me this evening. That is really important, I am even prouder that so many of my political rivals are here with us this evening, standing together, cross party, standing united on this important work. Thank you to all of those politicians that have come this evening.

I want you to know…

We have heard you.

We feel very deeply…

…the responsibility of defending the truth of history.

And we hear your message about the present and the future too.

Because as Manfred has said so powerfully -

He never thought he'd see this antisemitism again.

Just last week…

…I sat with Ayelet Svatitzky…

One of her brothers was murdered on October 7th.

Her mother who is 79 and another brother, Nadav, were taken captive.

Her mother was eventually released…

But Nadav died in captivity.

She described in heartbreaking detail…

The utter devastation she felt.

Her whole life stopped. Her family shattered. Talking, sometimes not talking, because I was hard for each of us to know what to say.

I want you to know as Prime Minister, I will do everything possible…

To help bring those remaining hostages home.

But we've also got to fight this underlying hate…

This resurgence of antisemitism.

You know, every year we say never again.

Yet on October 7th…

Over a thousand people were massacred by Hamas…

For the very same reason: because they were Jewish.

We say never again…

And yet in the last year…

We've seen record levels of antisemitism…

Right here in Britain…

Hatred marching on our streets.

The pulse of fear beating in this community.

Children afraid to wear their school uniforms…

Students targeted on university campuses…

All again, because they are Jewish.

We say never again…

And yet right now online

Our children are swamped with misinformation…

Disinformation…

As Karen touched on…

Holocaust denial…

Conspiracy theories…

Contorted versions of history.

Pure hatred and prejudice.

So I say tonight: we will not shy away from this.

We will not be silent…

We will not look the other way…

We will call out Antisemitism for what it is:

…Hatred pure and simple.

And we will fight this with everything that we have got.

Just as I fought to bring my party back from the abyss of antisemitism, I promise you I will do the same in leading the country.

.So yes, we will build that national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre

And build it next to Parliament.

Boldly, Proudly, Unapologetically.

Not as a Jewish community initiative….

But as a national initiative.

A national statement of the truth of the Holocaust…

And its place in our national consciousness.

And a permanent reminder of where hatred and prejudice can lead.

And yes, we will proudly support this remarkable charity…

The Holocaust Educational Trust.

You know, it was Gordon Brown…

Who pioneered government funding of your world-leading programme…

Lessons from Auschwitz.

And over the last twenty years…

Tens of thousands of students have had that life-changing opportunity…

To visit Auschwitz in person - and to share their experience with their peers.

The shoes, The hair, the suitcases, the train tracks, the gas chamber…

… utterly, utterly horrific.

But it's a truth we have remember.

I know there is there is nothing quite as powerful as seeing it for yourself.

My wife Vic has been, I must go.

So I will join the Holocaust Educational Trust…

…for one of these visits.

This government will continue funding Lessons from Auschwitz…

And I can confirm that tonight we are providing at least

£2.2 million next year to do that.

But look, we cannot stop there.

It's too important.

This was the first year that participation in Holocaust memorial day fell.

We can't sit back and accept that.

We've got to be bolder and more defiant…

…about the national importance of Holocaust education.

As you will all know, the Holocaust is on the curriculum at Key Stage 3.

And there is currently a review of our national curriculum.

But tonight I am making two decisions in advance of that review.

First, the Holocaust will remain on the curriculum come what may.

And second, even schools who do not currently have to follow the national curriculum…

Will have to teach the Holocaust when the new curriculum comes in.

For the first time, studying the Holocaust….

…will become a critical, vital part of every single student's identity.

And not just studying it…learning from it too.

And above all, acting on its lessons.

Because this is not just about rules and requirements.

It's also about the quality of that teaching.

The support that schools and teachers have.

And that's where charities like this Trust come in.

Tonight, you're showcasing Testimony 360…we saw a glimpse a moment ago.

It's an incredible programme.

If you've not done so, I urge you to see it.

It uses advanced technologies to allow students…

Not just to hear Manfred's testimony…

But to ask him questions.

To interact with him.

Now of course, it will never quite be the same…

…as meeting a survivor in person.

But what a way to preserve survivor testimony.

And what a way to engage young people at such a critical moment.

And I think this captures the essence…

…of what we need to do right now.

To extend the reach of Holocaust education…

And to share the message of survivors like Manfred across the generations.

So tonight, I want to set up a new national ambition…

That as part of their education,

Every student in the country should have the opportunity…

To hear a recorded survivor testimony.

And I want us to fulfil this ambition, in this precious period…

While we have survivors and still able to help us get this right.

As you all know, in the coming months…

We'll mark the 80th anniversaries…

Of the liberation of Auschwitz in January…

…and the British liberation of Bergen Belsen in April.

And in August, the 80th anniversary of the arrival of 300 orphan survivors…

Who were rehabilitated in Windermere…

And went on to make extraordinary contributions to our country.

As we mark each one….

Let's be even bolder and more ambitious than ever before…

In sharing their message….

And fighting this antisemitism, and all forms of hatred in our society.

So together we can ensure that the message of Britain's Holocaust survivors…

Will echo eternally across the generations…

And that the Holocaust is never forgotten, and never again repeated.

And finally, one more thing…

I know that we're now approaching the Jewish New Year…

So to each and every one of you…

May I say…

Shana Tova.