“Countless museums and memorials have not stopped rising antisemitism,” Anita Lasker-Wallfisch told a committee of MPs yesterday. “We are unlikely to learn now what we have not learned in the last 80 years.”
The 98-year-old survivor of the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen death camps said she found it very difficult to understand how the government “could even contemplate” putting a learning centre below ground in a public park adjoining the Houses of Parliament — though she made no secret of her suspicions.
Her oral evidence left MPs and counsel for the government speechless — as you can see by watching this three-minute clip:
Lasker-Wallfisch, whose life was saved by the cello she played in Auschwitz, was answering questions from Brian Doctor KC, representing objectors to the government plans. Behind him you can see her son, the cellist Raphael Wallfisch, taking great pride in one of his mother’s most powerful performances.
Readers who are new to this story should begin with my preview on Tuesday and then follow the links.
The only comment I can make about Mrs Lasker-Wallfisch is that she is magnificent! One must hope that her message has been received and understood.
They will only be educated, Simon, if they go to this ‘centre’ and if they make the effort to go then they probably already know. There is a very moving monument in Paris on the Ile de la Cite where I learned more than I knew, and in Prague the old Jewish burial ground tells you a lot, but I chose to go. What is needed is more general education and awareness.
What troubles me about this videoclip is the smiling condescension of the people listening - there, there, clever old woman, isn’t she sweet, instead of listening to the essence of what she is saying.