Boris Johnson – 2020 Speech at Holocaust Memorial Day

Below is the text of the speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 27 January 2020.

Last week Mala told me her story, including the scene that awaited Ian and our British forces when they liberated Bergen Belsen almost 75 years ago.

I am lost in admiration for Mala’s courage and endurance and her unwavering determination to ensure that we remember.

As she said to me, the Holocaust is unique, because it was the industrialised murder of a race, of 6 million Jews, of whom 1.5 million were children, along with millions of other targets of Nazi persecution.

As Prime Minister, I promise that we will preserve this truth forever.

I will make sure we build the National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre, so that future generations can never doubt what happened, because that is the only way we can be certain that it never happens again.

And I feel a deep sense of shame that here in Britain – in 2020 – we seem to be dealing with a resurgence of the virus of anti-semitism – and I know that I carry responsibility as Prime Minister to do everything possible to stamp it out.

As we resolutely proclaim “never again”, it is right that we should also ask what happened to our resolve in the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

And as I stand here, in the presence of many of Britain’s Holocaust survivors, I feel a special obligation towards the sanctity of their testimonies, because nothing can compare with hearing directly from a survivor.

I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to ensure these testimonies are shared as widely as possible, encouraging the use of technology so the tangible, palpable, irrefutable reality of this experience is preserved as something not just for this generation but for every generation.

In doing so, we will ensure that Britain never forgets the truth of the Holocaust.

In the name of all those who perished, may their memory be a blessing for ever.