Five reflections on attending
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
in the Memorial Gardens, Lancaster
and afterwards at Lancaster Town Hall,
preceded by a screening of The Pianist at The Dukes

Thursday 27 January 2005

One
The screening of Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (reviewed here) is The Dukes’ first – and very commendable - contribution to the annual Holocaust Memorial Day. This has been held in Lancaster for five years now, and has been organised by the National Coalition Building Institute.

Two
“And who shall survive the day of his coming?”
So asked the prophet Isaiah, and many people will have asked that question of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and 1940s. As a gay man with socialist leanings and a mental health problem, I would have qualified for the ‘purification of the Master Race’ on several fronts. The Nazis would not have known which emblem to make me wear.

And you, gentle reader? Anyone who is not white, or maybe Jewish, a traveller, physically disabled, an ‘intellectual’ or trades unionist must surely feel the same sense of ‘victim status’ as I did. So all the way through watching The Pianist, and in the Memorial Garden, I was thinking “There but for the Grace of God …”.

Three
Wider thoughts
Whilst the focus of Holocaust Memorial Day was remembrance, commemoration and commitment from everyone present “to fight prejudice in all its forms wherever I find it,” maybe it is useful to look back through history, look around the world today, and try to put things into some kind of context …

So ‘Look back in Anger’ in history to the empire-building of the Greek and Persian Wars, the excesses of Imperial Rome, the so-called Wars of the Roses, and the present-day insults to humanity that carry on in the ‘Holy Land’ and what was once the proud power of Babylon. Spare a thought, too, for Robert Mugabe and his like.

No, that particular beast is always with us. Which is why there is a need, no less important than ever before, for this annual event.

Four
A message for today

First they came for the Jews
       and I did not speak out
       because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
       and I did not speak out
       because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
       and I did not speak out
       because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
       and there was no one left
       to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Both The Pianist and the Holocaust Memorial Day showed me that humankind still has the ability to stand up and speak, and to make sure that when monsters stalk the earth, there will still be some who will make their voices heard.

Are you one of those? Will you, do you speak up?

Five
A candle-lit vigil, and afterwards …
It was a dignified, peaceful and moving ceremony in the Memorial Gardens by the Town Hall. After brief welcomes and readings, lanterns were lit by the Mayor of Lancaster and representatives of other groupings who were persecuted by the Nazis. This year, special commemoration was made for those nations, individuals and faiths who assisted those under persecution, before, during and after the War.

After this simple rite we moved into the Town Hall for food, refreshment, culture sharing and to enjoy some live music. My partner and I needed a hot cuppa, and I was asked to offer a ‘culture share’. So I said something like this – I can’t remember exactly:

"I am not here to offer any of my own cultural experiences, but I simply want to say thank you for speaking out tonight on my behalf. And I don’t know whom to thank – The Catholic Bishop of Lancaster for defending my faith? The Trades Union representatives who work for me in the workplace? The lesbian and the gay man who spoke for my sexuality? The disabled speaker who spoke for my illness? The Mayor who pledges his City to combating prejudice? The Police officer, who did not formally speak, for guaranteeing my freedom from oppression?

I don’t know. No, I want to thank every single one of you who has come here tonight to speak out, to make a statement against prejudice, discrimination and oppression. Previous ‘sharers’ and others have spoken of their Jewish family who survived the Holocaust and of the civil wars in Asia, and referred to all those who stood up for peace, for justice, for truth as ‘lights in the world’, or perhaps as ‘saints’.

I want to pick up on that, because I think that is what all of us here tonight are doing.

We are not saints (perish that thought) but just little flickers of light in a world that has seen much of the darkness of evil, and still now sometimes sees it too. And I am a happier man simply for being here, for knowing that you all care enough to make those declarations, and it is wonderful to know that I am not alone – none of us is – in the struggle against evil, against prejudice, against oppression.

So thank you, all of you here tonight, for confirming, strengthening and sustaining my faith in the essential good in human nature."

Copyright © 31 January 2005 Michael Nunn

Some odd links I found which may be useful:

The Guardian’s leader on the Holocaust, 26 January 2005

‘Immigrants must be white …’ from The Guardian, 26 January 2005, with interesting links to immigration issues.

Auschwitz survivors’ stories in The Times, 26 January 2005:

BBC News: World leaders gather in Poland to commemorate Holocaust Day.

The Independent: A letter from Auschwitz

The Independent: Leading figures on the lessons of the Holocaust.

The Times on Holocaust Day: