Never a more important time to remember the Holocaust

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day one of just a handful of child survivors left in New Zealand is warning that hate speech and attacks on minorities around the world are at levels not seen since before World War Two.

Bob Narev was just seven in 1942 when he, his family and 1000 other Jewish people were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. All his immediate family died there except his mother, who was forced to work in an armaments factory.

“The recent targeting of minorities in the US and other Western countries, and the surge in extreme right-wing and racist political groups throughout Europe brings back haunting memories for Holocaust survivors such as myself,” Bob Narev today told the International Holocaust Remembrance event in Auckland.

“Sadly we are not immune in New Zealand. There was a rapid rise in hate speech against the Jewish community following the Government’s support of the United Nations Resolution on Israel.

“At the end of World War Two, the world said ‘Never Again’. Holocaust survivors believed the international community would stand up and stop such horrific events ever reoccurring.

“Yet the world has been powerless to stop the heart-breaking genocide in Syria and we are once again facing the danger of extremism.

“The lessons of the Holocaust – that different beliefs and cultures should be respected not feared – are more important than ever,” Bob Narev says.

Today's Auckland’s Holocaust Remembrance Day was hosted by Mayor Phil Goff who says it is a time to remember that diversity should be celebrated.

“Today’s event is particularly poignant and reminds us of how divisive and harmful hate speech can be and what it can turn to. We must never forget the lessons from the past,” he says.

Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy, who attended the Wellington event, says the Holocaust taught us that prejudice and hatred start small.

“All of us are responsible to ensure we live in a country where this hatred is never normalised. It is never okay for a New Zealand child to hide who they are out of fear. That is not us,” Dame Susan says.

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