‘Abuse of the Holocaust is abuse of us all.’

Romford Synagogue’s Rabbi Lee Sunderland is a much respected member of our community. Today he shares his thoughts on the shocking graffiti left in Elm Park over the weekend.

Yesterday’s report in the Havering Daily of the graffiti sprayed on Elm Park Station was disturbing in more ways than one . This horrible messy crime must be analysed from several view points. Why scrawl graffiti of that nature in Elm Park of all places ? It’s not exactly a Jewish Ghetto of any significant size ? But why assume it is aimed at Jews in the first place ?

As we approach Holocaust Memorial Day, there is a lot of of air time devoted to it and in the media. Perhaps being a present topic that is used as a weapon to bully people , a Swastika is a quick and powerful symbol to scribble with less chance of being caught ! One must wonder if the simple idiotic Banksy even knew what it meant!

A more important and pertinent question is why automatically associate Jews with the horrors of the Holocaust? Sure they were the group who suffered the most, but they were not the only ones. Do people realise that if this were the 1940s, people would not be fighting for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community or those particularly of trans people, they would be fighting for their right to live and not be rounded up and taken off to camps for torture, rape, degradation and death ?

Mental health issues are a hot present topic . Those with such problems, especially long term illnesses would have met the same fate . As would epileptics , the physically challenged , political adversaries, Freemasons , and those deemed by the Germans to be Jewish – even if the Jews would not accept them as such under the rules of Jewish law!

No single group of people own the Holocaust, shamefully no group of people are still free of discrimination although it is not to the degree of the 30s and 40s. The only similarity is that quotas are still put on the number of people we are prepared to save. Even as we watch rape and torture take place in war torn Ukraine they are not part of NATO, so we won’t dare go to war to save other human being’s dignity and the list goes on .

The Holocaust belongs to us all , no matter its aim or who suffered more or worst . Abuse of the Holocaust is abuse of us all. It is not just antisemitism . If there is one part of the Holocaust we should be aware of it is the institution of the Yad Vashem Award for Righteous Gentiles ( not a nice word these days but a label offered in the Talmud when times were very different). These medals are given mostly to individuals who were prepared to risk their lives and livelihoods to save even one jew. Refer to Google and you will see people of all races religions colour creed and persuasion have been honoured for their heroism. Ordinary people prepared to go beyond the call of duty( the theme oh HMD this year) to help others . Like those who opened their homes to Ukrainians this year.

Desecrating the Holocaust is an insult to them too. The Holocaust of the 30s and 40s is not history. It is present while survivors are still here . So are the many Holocausts that have happened since and are happening now in front of out eyes . They all belong to each and everyone of us . To desecrate them desecrates us all . To teach them educates us all, to stop them saves us all . Yet as we gather to mark these events the words never again accuses us all and criminalises us all until we make them stop . Even we the ordinary people.

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