As much as I admire the inspired creations of architect Sir David Adjaye, the only way I can accept his latest design would be a change of name to the monument. Why Holocaust Memorial? Why Jewish Holocaust only? It implies all other Holocausts or Genocides in our dark History were/are acceptable.
The only way we can work together and hope for a better world is by educating Humanity, by explaining the origin of every Genocide in history, what produced them, why some authorities wanted them, who benefited from them and how they could have been prevented.
Sir David explains the chosen space, Victoria Tower Gardens, as a “park of Britain’s conscience”, because it already includes a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst who campaigned for women Rights, and the Buxton Memorial that marks the Abolition of Slavery.
To me, “Memorials” are just reminders of “what we are capable of doing”; they don’t mean what we are told: that ‘Memorials remind us what we have done so that we don’t do it again.’
In fact, the two monuments already in existence at Victoria Tower Gardens, are a case in point. Since the installation of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in 1930, women’s Human Rights have been continuously abused. Even just a very few weeks ago, we were informed of the gap in pay in many jobs, between men and women—women always on the losing end.
The Buxton Memorial Fountain, completed in 1866, thirty two years after the Law for the emancipation of British slaves was passed, really marks the beginning of a new form of slavery, practiced by the British as well as by other powers until this day, as the current Evening Standard investigation into modern day slavery shows us.
Sir David Adjaye, originally from Ghana, should know very well I am saying the truth. Coming to his controversial new project, the Holocaust Memorial, Sir David says: “The complexity of the Holocaust story, including the British context, is a series of layers that have become hidden by time”. How true! Will the project reveal those hidden layers? Like for instance, the fact that the Holocaust would have never happened, as well as World War II and its 67 million dead had Britain done something about it, instead of encouraging it all?
Will visitors to the Holocaust Memorial be able to see all documents revealing the secret meetings between UK and German authorities, during the concoction of World War II? Will the Memorial expose all the Bank of England documents showing the fortune the UK sent to Germany during the Thirties, to help Hitler build very powerful Armed Forces, able to sustain a military conflict longer and more lethal than World War I?
Insisting, as Sir David does, on showing to the world what the ‘Nazis’ did, is the same ominous strategy that characterises the hundreds of Holocaust Memorials, exhibitions, Museums, films, books and lectures. All they do is increase tension between Germany and other countries and, not surprisingly, increase anti-Judaism.
In other words, Memorials “create War”. The sooner the world is educated to understand this Truth, the higher the chances of avoiding World War III.
The next step should be the elimination of Militarism and the creation of a non-militarised world, except for a very well-armed and trained Police Force, for security at a local level. The other major benefit of such measures will be the end of hunger and many other forms of human suffering.
Alberto Portugheis, HUFUD President
