Final Thoughts

Ivor’s Family

Ivor Perl BEM ‘s survival was a miracle.

During the Holocaust, up to 6 million Jewish men, women and children were systematically hunted down, forced into ghettos and transported to death camps such as Auschwitz II Birkenau, Majdanek and Chelmno.

Most of the murder of Jews was carried out in killing fields, forests or valleys; victims were forced to dig their own graves before being stripped naked and shot.

The story of Babyn Yar, where over Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, nearly 34,000 Jews were murdered in a ravine outside Kyiv, is one example.

Perhaps the most chilling aspect was the number of willing young people who were given guns and murdered those who had previously been their playmates. These were not trained soldiers, but neighbours and friends. It didn’t take much.

The period of Nazi oppression of primarily the Jews, but also Roma, Sinti, LGBTQ+ and disabled people, lasted from 1933 to 1945. The same length of time that you would move through school from Reception to Year 13.

The Holocaust could not have taken place had bystanders become upstanders, and it was the culpability of so many people showing a willingness to join the Nazis or play their part.

In Britain today, and throughout the world, there has been an upsurge in antisemitism. Sometimes this has resulted in violence, such as the murders on Bondi Beach on Chanukah and, nearer to home, the murder outside Heaton Park Synagogue and the attempted murder of innocent Jewish men in Golders Green in broad daylight.

Antisemitism is a virus that keeps mutating. A 2000 year old hatred. Racism can never be tolerated or excused under any circumstances. It is incumbent on every single one of us to make a pledge outlining what steps we are going to take to help create a more tolerant and equitable society.

Written on behalf of Lemon Soul by Laurence Rosenberg, 2026