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Commemoration: International Perspectives

Holocaust Commemoration: International Perspectives

(Stephen D. Smith, Director, Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre, United Kingdom)

Update on Activities

At the Washington Conference held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in December 1998 the creation of an International Day of Holocaust Remembrance was explored in view of the increasing international cooperation inspired by the activities of the Intergovernmental Task Force.

Following the conference, Yad Vashern conducted a thorough review of some forty countries and regions to ascertain the level of commitment already in existence for national acts of commemoration. The results (listed below) demonstrated that with a number of significant countries already committed to national events, any attempt to harmonise a single international day would prove problematic and not necessarily add significantly to what might be achieved nationally.

It was decided that the unilateral development of national days of remembrance would have the desired effect of commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and providing a national focus for raising awareness and stimulating teaching and learning.

While countries such as Israel, the United States, Lithuania, and Latvia have legislated for Holocaust remembrance days, other countries, such as Germany, France and Denmark have chosen to follow less formal, but nevertheless governmentled acts of commemoration. There are presently a number of countries still at the early stages of implementing a national Holocaust remembrance day. These include: Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Italy, all of whom have chosen 27 January. Either legislation is to be passed, or government is to make official statements implementing national annual acts of commemoration and learning in these three countries shortly.

It is envisaged that countries participating at the conference, but not as yet holding such national commemorative acts may wish to consider taking unilateral decisions to implement such a day in their respective countries. Partnerships might be sought with delegations with Holocaust remembrance days in place to stimulate international and intercultural exchange.

Issues Relating to Holocaust Remembrance Days

Memory and Forgetting

It is commonly recognised that significant historical events are documented by historians and enter the historical consciousness of society through a variety of means and media. Events we reflect upon involve levels of selective remembering and forgetting, including emphases for example, on heroism, or triumph, or mourning, dependent on the nature of the event and its significance in the present. History is therefore limited and shaped by our interpretation of it.

The Holocaust is also limited by our memory, but presents a different challenge, as its memory should be, to quote Franklin Littell, 'international, interdisciplinary and interfaith' and hence cross all boundaries of human endeavour. The Hebrew term 'Zachor!' ('Remember!'), is often invoked to stimulate or demonstrate the process of memory. It is nevertheless important to ask whom we are attempting to remember, why we are attempting to remember and how. These questions should frame our rationale whether at personal or national level, and are important to ask, to ensure that the focus we create is constituent with the aims we identify.

Who Do We Remember?

When we talk of the Holocaust we speak of something quite unprecedented in human history. This is the name ascribed to the process and implementation of mass death upon all Jews without exception in Nazioccupied Europe. The singularly ferocious and largely successful attack upon the Jews, resulted in the infamy of Auschwitz as we know it, and the existence of Belzec, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor and similar centres of murder, which otherwise would not have existed.

- Therefore when we talk of the Holocaust, we refer only to the mass destruction of European Jewry. Mass murder was also inflicted upon a variety of ethnic communities, political groups and unarmed military personnel also. Their deaths must be seen either as crimes against humanity or as acts of genocide in their own right, and should be remembered as such. A broad 'all victims of Nazism' definition of the Holocaust defeats the purpose of the term, as this term did not come into being to describe all suffering everywhere. It struggled with the unprecedented trauma of the 'Final Solution' the likes of which has never been encountered before or since. It is important to make distinctions not based on the value of human life, as every life is equally valuable, but on the process and intent.

- Therefore, it is possible to incorporate into the concept of remembrance, 'the victims of the Holocaust and the victims of mass murder during the Nazi period', without demeaning the life of any individual, and also without losing sight of why the destruction of European Jewry as defined by the Holocaust is so important as a memory and as a lesson for humanity.

Why Do We Remember?

The motivations for remembrance are multiple and variable. However, each act of commemoration encompasses the following as part of a complex process:

• We remember to come alongside the bereaved and to share the burden of their memory;
• We remember because memory gives dignity to the past and shape to our own identity;
• We remember to involve ourselves in the consequences of the facts;
• We remember to learn, as memory recites a version of the events from which we can learn;
• We remember to warn future generations of the consequences of neglecting this memory;
• We remember in part to criticise our own acts and attitudes in the present.

In defining how it would address such criteria by way of example the UK government proposal for a Holocaust Memorial Day identifies a number of aims and objectives for remembrance in the national context. They are to:

• Raise awareness and understanding of the events of the Holocaust as a continuing issue for all humanity, based on a recognition that it could happen again anywhere and at any time, unless we ensure that our society is vigilant in opposing racism;
• Highlight the values of a tolerant and diverse society based upon the notions of universal dignity and equal rights and responsibilities for all its citizens;
• Provide a national mark of respect for all victims of Nazi persecution and demonstrate understanding with all those who still suffer its consequences;
• Reflect on recent atrocities that raise similar issues;
• Commemorate the communities who suffered as a result of the Holocaust;
• Ensure that the historical events associated with the Holocaust continue to be regarded as being of fundamental importance;
• Educate subsequent generations about the Holocaust and the continued relevance of the lessons that are learnt from it;
• Assert a continuing commitment to oppose racism, antisemitism, victimisation and genocide.

How Do We Remember?

The practice of remembrance should be personal, even when it is national. The creation of monuments and the commitment of government to ceremonial duty should not distance the individual citizen from engaging in personal acts of remembrance. It should encourage intrasocietal discourse between individuals, communities and countries, to facilitate remembering with and learning from each other.

Remembrance should enrich and broaden personal experience and remove national, communal and personal barriers. Too often, remembrance exacerbates tensions and becomes politicized, or trivializes events through lack of knowledge or lack of desire to admit the past.

Acts of remembrance can be a screen giving the impression of activity, while the population remains unaware, or uninterested in any personal meaning. To this end, how we remember is important, as government can set the tone, but must also facilitate a meaningful and human encounter across cultural and generational divides.

The range of possibilities is limitless, though some of the categories might include:

- Government: Legislation, ceremonial, education curriculum development, funding;

- Education: School assemblies, visits to sites, speakers in school, email discussions;

- Religious Institutions: Services of remembrance, interfaith events, statements;

- Cultural Activities: Lectures, performing arts, poetry reading, visual arts;

- Sites and Museums: Memorial events, civic/national events, colloquia, international events;

- Media: Television documentaries, screening of films, issuesbased talk shows.

The danger is that of trivialization. The more the Holocaust is exposed to society, the more people may feel able to deal with it. In addition, the 'remembrance market' could lead to its commercialization through the need to raise funds, provide materials and to demonstrate new and innovative ideas. In this respect, while individual participation is to be encouraged, competition should be kept to a minimum in its implementation.

Remembrance should not be 'controlled', but the provision of well researched materials and a coordinating body to assist in its implementation to various sectors and regions may provide a suitable focus for activities to revolve around.

Conclusions

Delegations are encouraged to consider the implementation of national days of Holocaust remembrance in their respective countries as a unilateral decision, but also to consider partnership with countries already holding such days.

The provision of a Holocaust remembrance day is a valuable means for individuals right across the broad spectrum of national life to afford dignity to the wasted lives of the Holocaust and of mass murder during the Nazi period.

It should also provide a focus on the consequences for the contemporary world.

A Holocaust Remembrance Day should respect the past, but look to the future; and should place particular emphasis on including and encouraging the young.