‘Tolerant’ Britain has no cause to rest on its laurels

As both a son and a son-in-law of Holocaust survivors, I was struck by the positive outlook of survivors of the Holocaust I have met, as well as those from the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. They displayed an optimism that defied the horror of their experiences.

This, in addition to what can only be described as divine intervention, enabled my father to survive. What else would enable an 18-year-old, stricken with typhoid fever, to prise open the barbed wire on the cattle truck window on Wednesday 13 January 1943 on the way to Treblinka and jump into the bitterly cold black night with Nazi sharpshooters on constant vigil? How else could one lie in a grave from 11 November 1944 until mid-January 1945, with only a small hole for air and a tiny amount of food and water and believe in the possibility of survival?

There is a beacon of hope that the pain caused by millennia of prejudice and distrust between Jews and Catholics might be healed. Pope Francis’ concern for our relationship and his decision to visit Israel has given many Jews a vision of what a new future might look like.

Despite this predisposition to focus on the positive, I ask myself why the lessons of the Holocaust were not learned even in Bosnia, let alone further afield in Asia and Africa. Nor can I ignore the attitudes in the UK today to those of different races, religions and to intolerance of difference generally.

According to the Home Office, 278,000 incidents of hate crime occur on average each year. In December 2013, the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics published an overview of the 42,236 hate crimes that had been recorded by the police (it is estimated that only around 40 per cent come to the police’s attention).

Of those reported, 85 per cent were race hate crimes, 4 per cent were religion hate crimes, 10 per cent were sexual-orientation hate crimes, 4 per cent were disability hate crimes, and 1 per cent were transgender hate crimes. (These figures add up to 43,927, 104 per cent, because it is possible for an offence to have more than one motivating factor.)

We have yet to find the answers to what we need to do to inculcate a respect and appreciation in our society for those different from us. I am proud to be British and feel that although this is a small island, we have left a positive legacy around the world in creating institutions and a positive view of democracy. Perhaps it is the optimist in me that believes the UK, because of its amazing diversity, can be an exemplar to the world in terms of interfaith understanding and enjoying the wonderful richness from differences of race, religion and perspectives.

Perhaps the answer lies in leadership. I am proud to be a citizen of a country where the Prime Minister David Cameron has launched a Holocaust Commission to find ways to combat the causes of hatred that can develop into such horrific consequences, here and elsewhere.

Maybe we should all strive as individuals in whatever way we can, to be leaders in our schools, our workplaces and our neighbourhoods, in showing the benefit of appreciating those that are different to ourselves, and actively celebrating that difference, not just passively tolerating it – seeing how these differences enrich our lives and make colourful what would otherwise be monochromatic.

Maurice Ostro is a Vice-Chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews and a member of the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission

Friday is the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination