Statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The theme of this year’s Inter­na­tion­al Holocaust Remem­brance Day is Bridging the Gen­er­a­tions – a reminder that remem­brance is not just the respons­ib­il­ity of the survivors, it is incumbent on all of us to carry the lessons and legacy of the Shoah into the future.

Tra­di­tion­ally, this has meant sharing the testimony of those who endured the horrors of history’s darkest chapter.

But over the past two years, and the past two months in par­tic­u­lar, we ourselves have exper­i­enced the escal­a­tion of antisemitism in an otherwise civilised country, the depths to which members of that society can sink, and the non­chal­ance of the author­it­ies in the face of the willful destruc­tion of Jewish property, the doxing of Jewish per­formers, busi­nesses and academics, and the har­ass­ment of Jewish students. Amid abuse and incite­ment, we have also exper­i­enced the searing pain of grief, as a joyous cel­eb­ra­tion of Jewish survival became a scene of senseless slaughter.

For the Jews of Australia, the phrase ‘Never Again’ has never been more poignant, and the demand on our country to remember so critical.