David Cameron announced five years ago that he was establishing a “Holocaust Commission”. The purpose? To “investigate what more needs to be done to ensure Britain has a permanent and fitting [Holocaust] memorial and the educational resources needed for generations to come.”
Out of this Commission came a Holocaust Memorial Foundation; and out of this Foundation – technically an Advisory Board to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government – a breathtaking proposal has been issued: to construct within Victoria Tower Gardens (next to the Houses of Parliament) a gigantic edifice incorporating a learning resource centre to honour Jewish and other victims of the Nazi Holocaust, such as Roma, disabled and LGBT people.
This proposal is now the subject of a public consultation launched by Westminster city council. This has become exceedingly bitter. It’s not difficult to understand why.
While the sincerity of those who support the project is not in doubt, it needs to be remembered that – both in London and elsewhere in Britain – there are already a number of imposing Holocaust memorials.
There is Frank Meisler’s moving Kindertransport sculpture at London’s Liverpool Street station.
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