Anita Lasker-Wallfisch: This genocide was different
NewsThe London cellist who spent her teens in Auschwitz has urged Parliament to abandon plans for a nearby Holocaust Memorial.
‘It has nothing to do with the Holocaust,’ she told a committee hearing yesterday. ‘Like it or not, this genocide was different. It has not stopped. A Jew, unlike a Rwandan, is not safe anywhere now. Countless museums and memorials have not stopped rising anti-semitism.’
Watch Anita’s short speech here.
What a completely sensational person! Deeply impressed by this 92year old’s dismantling of this weirdly worthy and pointless plan, which is probably only about politician’s looking good and precious little else. I hope they take what she has said on board and gently bury the whole idea!
She is actually an amazing 98 years old.
Well, I’m staggered. I’d like to be that articulate at 66!
She’s 98, not 92!
Wow! My first inclination was to think that we need more memorials, of some kind or another, to pay tribute to the Holocaust victims, in the hope that some people would at least stop and think, as I have seen them do at other such memorials. But when I listened to this lady I was just blown away: she nailed all the reasons why not, and critically, in a prepared and reasoned way, not simply an emotional or subjective one. And in very few words. What have we learned? At the very least, perhaps politicians could learn to make their points half as well as she did. Her very brevity was more potent than a long speech could ever be,
And I saw a picture of the proposed monument: I certainly didn’t want to see that.
As for “learning centres”: try schools. That’s what they are supposed to be, isn’t it? Or are there too many school boards that would oppose proper teaching of this aspect of WWII in the classroom?
Suggest everyone read Times Echo by Jeremy Eichler if you want to know the longevity of holocaust memorials.
Published on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day today, this article describes the challenges facing a U.S. museum in educating today’s visitors, and the steps it takes to address them.
I see useful lessons here for the debate and clashes over the why, what and how of the proposed Holocaust memorial and “learning centre” in London.
“One Hope from Changes at This Holocaust Museum: Fewer Nazi Selfies” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/arts/design/zekelman-holocaust-center-detroit.html?