The following is a writeup from notes for a speech I gave as Campaigns Officer of the Jewish Society at the Nottingham Trent commemoration for Holocaust Memorial Day.
It’s a privilege to speak today as a representative of the JSoc. In my time as President last year and, now, Campaigns Officer, I’ve had the honour of promoting and celebrating (and sometimes defending) Jewish life on campus here in Nottingham.
Today, as we observe Holocaust Memorial Day, we honour not only the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust but also remember the victims of subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. This day serves as a poignant reminder of the destructive force of hatred and the resilience of the human spirit.
The Holocaust, the systematic campaign orchestrated by the Nazis, targeting Jews and others they deemed undesirable represents one of the most profound moral failings in modern history.
This, however, wasn’t the last brutal atrocity the world witnessed.
Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur all saw horrific genocides in the late 20th century, each of them, a result of the unchecked rise of prejudice and the failure of international intervention.
As we remember these dark chapters of history, we are reminded of the importance of standing against hatred in all its forms.
But I’m not just going to tell you about the importance of fighting prejudice or standing up to hate. I suspect (and hope) I’m preaching to the choir here.
There is, however, another element to consider here.
A clear pattern that emerges, particularly if you look into Jewish history. Every society that has persecuted Jews has later faced its eventual downfall. Not because the Jews have done anything to them or fought back in any way (usually we’d fled and were busy rebuilding our lives elsewhere) but because, in the words of the late Rabbi Sacks, “antisemitism is not about the Jews. It’s about the antisemites”.
The pattern we see here reflects a deeper societal problem – hatred and bigotry are the canary in the coalmine for a society driving itself to self-destruction.
History has shown us, time and again, that civilizations, empires, and regimes that have embraced antisemitism have often been on the verge of moral and sometimes literal collapse.
Consider the ancient Egyptians, who enslaved the Israelites before suffering their own downfall.
The Roman Empire, which destroyed the Second Temple and exiled the Jewish people, eventually crumbling under its own weight.
In more recent history, Nazi Germany, which perpetrated the Holocaust, the most horrific genocide in modern history, saw its own ruin soon after.
These are not mere coincidences; they are historical lessons. Each of these powers not only oppressed the Jewish people but also harboured systemic issues that eventually led to their own undoing. The Jews also often served as a scapegoat, enabling them to ignore their worsening societal problems.
There is much to learn from the history of antisemitism, but it is also crucial to shift our focus from the past to the present, to the ongoing struggle against hatred.
The Jewish author Dara Horn wrote a book entitled “People Love Dead Jews”. It posits that it’s not enough to memorialise the dead. We can talk about the history and we can hold memorial services, but we have to walk out those doors and actively fight antisemitism and bigotry or it’s all in vain.
We must also go beyond the mere act of fighting antisemitism and bigotry. It is crucial to celebrate and enable our diversity, recognizing the unique contributions of every community to our shared human tapestry. Building a strong society where differences are not just tolerated but celebrated.
As we stand here in solemn remembrance, let us also commit to action. Let us not just love the memory of dead Jews, Cambodians, Tutsis, Bosnians and darfurians, but also respect, support, and stand in solidarity with the living – build a world where hatred finds no harbour, where respect and understanding are cornerstones of civil society.
I’d like to finish with a brief video of holocaust survivor Ziggi Shipper.
He was an inspirational survivor who unfortunately passed away early last year. He worked tirelessly with the Holocaust Educational Trust to fight for exactly the values I discussed. While I never had the privilege of meeting him, every colleague who did described him as embodying exactly the values I’ve just talked about – “A man full of spirit with a devastating story to tell about his past, yet always sharing a message of hope and love”, educating about the past and fighting antisemitism but also living every day with joy and life, looking to a more positive future.
Josh Cohen 
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