Confronting the past

"A front page of the Telegraph with a plane [of asylum seekers] taking off to Rwanda, that's my dream, it's my obsession," said Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman in October.

"I am utterly serious about ending the scourge of illegal migration," she remarked on a different occasion, complaining of a migrant "invasion" that would destabilise Britain.

Many are desensitised to such language. Former UK prime minister David Cameron called migrants and refugees from the Mediterranean a "swarm". Theresa MayThe prime minister of the UK between 2016 and 2019. Her attempts to secure a Brexit deal ultimately failed, resulting in her resignation. became famous for policies designed to create a "hostile environment" for illegal migrants.

But one woman was not willing to let it slide. Joan Salter, an elderly HolocaustThe murder of six million Jewish people in Europe by Nazi Germany. Members of other minority groups were also killed. survivor and campaigner, stood up in a constituencyAn area whose voters elect a person to represent them. meeting with Braverman last Friday to challenge her statements.

"When I hear you using words against refugees like 'swarms' and an 'invasion', I am reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others," she said.

Braverman, unintimidated, replied: "I won't apologise for the language that I have used to demonstrate the scale of the problem."

In an article penned shortly after the exchange, Salter remarked that "when I hear the kind of rhetoric being used by our politicians against desperate refugees... I am concerned by how quickly we have forgotten the lessons of the past".

Her comments could not have come at a more relevant time. Today marks Holocaust Memorial Day, as people around the world remember the atrocities of a genocideThe annihilation of a people, either through killing of its members, or through the suppression of its culture. in which more than six million Jews were systematically murdered by Adolf Hitler's Third ReichThe Nazi regime referred to itself as the "Third Empire", following the German Holy Roman Empire (800-1806) and the Second Reich (1871-1918)..

But recent surveys suggest that awareness of the Holocaust is shockingly low. A poll from 2019 showed that one in 20 Brits do not believe that the Holocaust happened, a quarter of young Dutch people think that the Holocaust was either a myth or "exaggerated" and 23% of young American adults are not aware of how many Jewish people died.

Many think this ignorance could lead to dark consequences, stating that dehumanisation of certain groups is almost always a precursor to tragedy.

"Propaganda and words of division can create such hatred that ordinary people can turn on their neighbours," warns Salter.

Yes: Britain became home to 10,000 predominantly Jewish children who were rescued from Nazi-controlled territory via KindertransportGerman for children's transport. Individuals and companies sponsored around 10,000 children to bring them to Britain. nine months before the war started. Nowadays, it is one of many countries denying entry to people.

No: Although both situations are tragic, there is no fruitful comparison between migrants today and Holocaust victims.

Or... There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the Holocaust. But predominantly, Holocaust Memorial Day should be a space to commemorate the victims who died, not to talk about modern political issues.