TODAY we mark Holocaust Memorial Day, 81 years after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Union’s Red Army.

The Holocaust was the systematic, state-organised murder of six million Jews. It was a deliberate attempt to eradicate Jewish people from Europe. Anti-semitism lay at the very core of the Holocaust and was a central pillar of Nazi ideology. Crucially, it was not confined to Germany: anti-semitism was widespread across Europe, including in Britain.

Alongside the six million Jews, it is estimated that a further five million people were murdered by the Nazis. These included Soviet prisoners of war, ethnic Poles, Roma and Sinti people, Serbs, Jehovah’s Witnesses, LGBT people, black people, disabled people, and German political opponents and dissenters — including socialists, communists and trade unionists. This history underlines a vital lesson for today: the need for unity in the fight against fascism and racism.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust captures the significance of remembrance clearly: “The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2026, Bridging Generations, is a call to action. It reminds us that the responsibility of remembrance does not end with the survivors — it lives on through their children, their grandchildren, and through all of us.”

Tragically, today’s political climate shows how history can echo across generations — from the rise of Nazism in the 1930s to the re-emergence of far-right movements shaping politics with catastrophic consequences in our own time.

Events in Minneapolis send a chill down the spine of all decent people: a Gestapo-style police operation rounding up people — including small children — who have every right to remain in the United States. Alongside the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, at least six other people have died in Ice detention. These are not isolated incidents; they are warning signs.

They should also serve as a warning here in Britain. If the sharp turn to the right continues without a serious and organised fightback, we risk similar outcomes.

The latest Electoral Calculus MRP poll puts Reform UK on 31 per cent, translating into 335 seats and a narrow overall majority. The Conservatives trail on 21 per cent with 92 seats. Labour stands at just 17 per cent with 41 seats, while the Greens are on 12 per cent with 52 seats, the Liberal Democrats on 11 per cent with 60 seats, and Your Party on 2 per cent with four seats.

While this is a single poll, the Electoral Calculus poll-of-polls has consistently placed Reform UK above 30 per cent and Labour below 20 per cent, with Reform UK emerging as the largest party in Parliament.

In practice, there would be little difference between a Reform UK majority government and a Reform UK/Conservative coalition. Both would represent Trumpism in Britain: virulent racism combined with economic policies that harm the vast majority, and a willingness to align with fascist forces when expedient.

Reform UK and Conservative politicians have addressed or openly supported fascist demonstrations outside refugee hotels in the summer of 2025. Supporters of Tommy Robinson have pledged to vote for Reform UK. Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration and went on to effectively agitate for a fascist coup in his address to Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally — the largest fascist demonstration in British history. The rise of fascism is not abstract; it is a clear and present danger.

After the Holocaust, the world declared “never again.” Those words must mean more than remembrance alone. They must mean learning the lessons of history: mobilising, organising and uniting to stop the far right and fascism today.

Fascism thrives in conditions of racism, scapegoating and economic crisis. “Never again” must therefore also mean fighting for decent living standards and confronting racism in all its forms — anti-semitism, Islamophobia, and hatred towards migrants and refugees.

Britain has a proud tradition of defeating fascism. Jews, communists, socialists, trade unionists and others stood together at Cable Street to stop Mosley’s Blackshirts. The Anti-Nazi League and black communities helped defeat the National Front.

Unite Against Fascism, trade unionists and Muslim communities drove back the English Defence League. More recently, in 2018, Stand Up To Racism, Unite the Union and others defeated the previous incarnation of the Robinson movement.

That same spirit lives on today. Many of us mobilised to stop the racist riots of summer 2024. We stood against the toxic protests targeting refugees in hotels. And, though outnumbered, thousands mobilised and spoke out against Robinson and the far right in September 2025.

The Together alliance against the far right shows that Britain’s anti-fascist tradition is reawakening. The rise of fascism poses an existential threat to all of us. On Saturday March 28, we must stand together and march — in the true spirit of never again.

Sabby Dhalu is co-convener of Stand up to Racism.