WITH the war on Gaza and the continued refusal of the Israeli government to accept international demands and law to negotiate a settlement there has been an increased tendency by some to conflate the actions of Israel with all Jews. This is wrong and as we know anti-semitism has been around for centuries. 

The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by Edward I on July 18 1290, expelling all Jews from England by no later than November 1 of that same year. This edict remained in place during the Middle Ages and was a culmination of over 200 years of anti-semitism.

Medieval England was particularly anti-Jewish with many images and tropes which exist today arising from that period such as tales of the Wandering Jew as a diabolical figure and allegations of ritual murders becoming widespread. In 1190 over 100 Jews were massacred in York. 

Alfred Dreyfus, a French officer of Jewish descent, was convicted of treason in 1894 and wasn’t officially exonerated until until July 1906 when was it was shown he was victimised because he was a Jew.

The recently released film One Life tells the story of Nicholas Winton with the back story of the British government failing to assist in the transport of at-risk Jewish children from Prague. 

The Communist Party has consistently shown support for Holocaust Memorial Day and this year is no different. We attempt to to show the Holocaust in its historical perspective. And we confirm that January 27 each year is the day that it should be commemorated as the day that Soviet troops liberated the death camps at Auschwitz.

In Poland there were over 40 concentration and extermination camps. Those held captive were mainly Jews, Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war — 1.3 million inmates and 1.1 million killed. It was liberated on January 27 1945, having come into existence in May 1940.

Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22 1941. Hitler intended the campaign to be a war of annihilation. Forced starvation and mass murders were the tools used.

Civilians were the main target and none more so than Soviet Jews, whose persecution began immediately. Many Jews attempted to flee with the retreating Soviet army but only a few succeeded.

Pogroms against Jews were widespread in Ukraine and Belarus. In the latter case the Nazis concentrated Jews in ghettos (a name first found in Venice) and killed the elderly, the young and women, using able-bodied men initially as slave labour. In Ukraine and Lithuania some of the local population had supported Nazi murders, while in Belarus this was more difficult and the Nazis turned to gassing. Some 800,000 Jews were killed.

These actions resulted in the first use of the word genocide. The Polish writer and lawyer Raphael Lemkin a fled to the US in 1941. He lost most of his family in the Holocaust and as a lawyer he recognised that the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group was a crime without a name — a title that was formally adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

In August 1942 the Battle of Stalingrad commenced. It ended in in February 1943. More than two million troops fought. Prior to the attack the German high command declared when they took the city that all male residents would be killed. 

The victory of the Soviet army in this battle is a direct line to January 27 when Auschwitz was liberated. A victory that was achieved by the Soviet peoples.

Joseph Goebbels attempted to rally the Nazi party, claiming that Germany must now engage in total war as to lose would see communism succeed, and the mass murder of Jews was increased. 

Every year around January 27, Unesco pays tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to counter anti-semitism, racism and other forms of intolerance that may lead to group-targeted violence. It was officially recognised in November 2005 as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust by the United Nations general assembly.

This year the Communist Party is joining with many others in commemorating a day that encourages remembrance in a world scarred by genocide. We support the call for the international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed, including socialists and communists.

The Holocaust threatened the fabric of civilisation, and genocide must still be resisted every day. Our world often feels fragile and vulnerable and we cannot be complacent. In Britain, prejudice and the language of hatred must be challenged by us all. We salute those in our communities who come out against fascists every week — in Erskine, Portland and Telford to name but three. We stand with those who condemn the genocide in Gaza and welcome the actions of those countries at the International Court of Justice led by South Africa. 

Holocaust Memorial Day is for everyone. Each year across Britain, thousands of people come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future. We know they learn more, empathise more and do more.

Together we bear witness for those who endured genocide, and honour the survivors and all those whose lives were changed beyond recognition.

These lessons of anti-semitism must be taken into our schools and workplaces. We must continue to oppose all racism and fascism and this includes the actions of the British government in its anti-migrant and racist acts and rhetoric which seek to divide working-class communities and persecute those fleeing imperialist wars, climate catastrophe and persecution.

The Communist Party will not stand idly by and allow people to die and we will salute and remember the brave people who fought and beat the fascists and anti-semites, generations past and today.