Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Britain to mark Holocaust with first memorial day
by Kate Kelland, Reuters
Posted: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 00:38 am CST

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Fifty-six years to the day after the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp towards the end of World War Two, British religious and political leaders are to attend the country's first memorial service for the Holocaust.

Timed to coincide with memorial days in Germany, Italy and Sweden, the ceremony on Saturday will include speeches by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the leader of Britain's Jews, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

"Holocaust Memorial Day is intended as an inclusive commemoration of all the individuals and communities who suffered as a result of the Holocaust -- not only Jews, but also Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, political prisoners and dozens of ethnic and other minorities," Home Secretary (interior minister) Jack Straw said in a statement.

"The day will put a particular emphasis on educating people of all ages about the lessons to be learnt from genocide."

Six million Jews were exterminated by Nazis during World War Two, many of them in gas chambers disguised as shower rooms in concentration camps.

More than one million people, mostly Jews, were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. The camps were liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.

Former rock star Bob Geldof and actress Emma Thompson will take part in the service in central London, where Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, will lead a candle-lighting ceremony in remembrance of victims of the Holocaust and of genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Armenia.

But the memorial, which will feature a programme of readings, poetry and music, has already been dogged by controversy.

Members of Britain's Armenian community were invited to the service belatedly after complaining that no recognition was being given to what they say is the genocide of 1.5 million of their countrymen in 1915 at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

Turkey denies genocide, saying the death toll was far lower and that both sides suffered in partisan fighting amid the collapse of the Ottoman empire.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office confirmed that the leader of the Armenian church in Britain and other community members would be attending Saturday's service.

But that decision prompted an angry reaction from Turkey's Jewish community.

"We stress that the genocide of six million Jews in the Holocaust in World War Two should not be compared to any other event and should not be overshadowed by so-called genocide claims," the Turkish Jewish community said in a statement issued from the office of Turkey's chief rabbi.

But Straw said the aim of the Memorial Day was to be inclusive. "The universal lessons of the Holocaust make this commemoration day relevant to everyone in our society," he said.

"We all have a shared responsibility to fight against discrimination and to help foster a truly multi-cultural Britain."

11:03 01-26-01

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