£300,000 City Hall grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation will help ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten
Memorial and museum play vital role in educating Londoners about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, with the UK representing the largest international visitor group
Sadiq to attend 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau later this month
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today pledged £300,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in Poland to help ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.
London joins Paris, and countries from across the world including Germany, USA and France, which have given money to help preserve all the authentic remains of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp, where more than one million men, women and children - over 950,000 of whom were Jewish - were killed in the Second World War.
The Mayor also confirmed today that he will visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial later this month to attend a special service to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of the camp, alongside Holocaust survivors, members of European royal families and heads of government.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation manages the ongoing conservation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau site, including the camp infrastructure and all personal items of the victims. The grant from London will contribute towards the preservation of the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, the conservation of the barracks and preserving collections and exhibits.
The site plays a vital role in educating Londoners about the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The UK represents the largest international visitor group to the site, with approximately 300,000 people, including school children, visiting each year.
London is home to an estimated 168,000 Jewish people – making it the largest Jewish community in the UK. The capital’s Jewish population grew significantly in the 1930s and 1940s when many European Jews fled to the UK to escape the Nazis, as well as family members of those who were murdered in the concentration camps.
At a time of growing anti-Semitism in London and across the UK, the Mayor believes that this grant will help ensure Auschwitz-Birkenau continues to play an important role in educating Londoners on the Holocaust for many years to come.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Holocaust was one of the very darkest times in human history and we must never forget the atrocities committed.
“As the years pass, and as we have fewer survivors to pass on their stories, it is vital that we work even harder to preserve the site and ensure younger generations learn the lessons from history.
“These lessons are all the more significant as we see anti-Semitism and hate crime on the rise.
“By joining others from around the world in giving a grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, we will be able to preserve this hugely important site and educate people about the Holocaust and the history of many Jewish Londoners for decades to come.
“I am deeply honoured to have been invited to the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau later this month, where, on behalf of London, I will stand with survivors and cities and countries from around the world to remember all those who were killed in, and suffered the horrors of, the Holocaust.”
Piotr Cywiński, President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, said: “The decision of London to join the international coalition of donors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation comes at a critical moment: 75 years after the liberation of KL Auschwitz it becomes an even more pressing challenge to save the material witnesses of the Shoah, the killing of Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war as well as members of other nationalities.
“With increasing numbers of visitors at the Auschwitz Memorial each year our responsibility to save its authenticity is a growing necessity. That is why I am deeply grateful to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the city’s residents for their historical commitment. We are doing this for our common future.”
Lily Ebert BEM, Holocaust survivor, said: “When I was 14, I was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau having travelled in a cattle truck for many days with no food and barely any water. People died during that horrific journey. When the cattle trucks finally stopped we arrived at Auschwitz and it was here that I was separated from my family, never to see them again.
“I promised myself that if by some miracle I survived, I would tell others my story. Today, I tell my story to young people across the country, but I won’t be here to do that forever. When I am not here, I want my story and my family’s story to be remembered. When young people visit Auschwitz, when they see the barracks that I lived in, and the gas chamber where a million people were murdered, my family among them, they start to understand. It has to be preserved so the world will remember.”
Karen Pollock MBE, Chief Executive, Holocaust Educational Trust: “With the Holocaust still in living memory, there are those who would seek to deny or distort the truth of the past. The best antidote we have is evidence – hearing the testimony of the eyewitnesses or seeing for yourself the very places where the Holocaust took place. That is why we are so grateful to the Mayor of London for his commitment to support the preservation of the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, sending a clear signal of the central place the Holocaust has in our collective memory.
We know that the survivors will not be here to tell their stories forever, but when young people today see with their own eyes the piles of human hair shaved from the victims, or the remnants of the gas chambers and crematorium, they become witnesses to the truth and carry the legacy of the past. That is why we have ensured that over 40,000 students and teachers from across the country have visited Auschwitz, and will continue to ensure the next generation never forgets”
Marie van der Zyl, Board of Deputies of British Jews President, said: “We applaud the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for donating a £300,000 grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. It is vitally important that we all come together to preserve the memory of those who were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust and educate to ensure it never happens again. The grant will give a great boost to this important work.”
The Mayor has been invited to attend an event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday, January 27, alongside more than 200 survivors of Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Heads of State and other international dignitaries. During the official ceremony, he will light a candle at the Birkenau memorial.