Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:48 pm on 25 January 2022.
Thank you, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you, Minister, for the statement. Children, mothers, fathers, grandparents—no-one was immune to being engulfed in the depraved flames of Nazism. More than 6 million people were murdered, as we've already heard, and they were murdered not for any fault of their own, but simply because of who they were. And that number is more than just a figure; behind it are millions of people who were mums and dads, doctors and teachers, men and women who were ruthlessly killed by that depraved regime. Yet the only relief we can take is that, fortunately, some managed to survive that ordeal. One of those was the late Mady Gerrard, who managed to start a new life for herself in Monmouthshire. In recalling her ordeal, she told the South Wales Argus:
'In 1944, at 14 years old, I was deported from my native Hungary to Auschwitz. I was engaged to be married to the love of my life. He was to be a doctor and I was to be an art historian, but that wasn't what Hitler had planned for us. We arrived in Auschwitz on July 8. It was hell.'
We'll never know fully what happened in that camp. Following the war, she returned to her native Hungary hoping to find her father, but she would soon learn that he was one of the 6 million. Holocaust Memorial Day encourages every one of us to remember one of the darkest periods in history, as well as the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Therefore, it's incumbent on us to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten. As a famous quote at Auschwitz eloquently states, 'The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.'
Therefore, we must learn from the past as well as never shy away from the challenge of hatred in all its forms. I welcome the Welsh Government's funding for the Lessons from Auschwitz programme, which is being delivered in collaboration with the Holocaust Educational Trust. Minister, can you provide assurances that the Welsh Government will provide long-term funding for that programme? Thank you.