Who exactly is supposed to remember the past and how can they do that? Most Jews remember the past so that leaves 99.99% of the rest of the population who need to be activated. By the time students have left high school the vast majority will have neither met a Jew, encountered a Holocaust survivor nor been exposed to the history of antisemitism and its consequences. A few may have visited the Holocaust Centre in Wellington but that is it.

Instead of political waffle and feel good oratory once a year NZ’s political leaders need to take immediate action to ensure that remembrance is activated in a practical manner. That means making Holocaust studies a compulsory part of the history curriculum and facilitating visits to Holocaust centres. At the same time the NZ Govt needs to urgently adopt the IHRA (international holocaust remembrance alliance) definitions of antisemitism.

As there is no indication that any of these actions will be taken the future will only lead to even more ignorance and intolerance thereby making the slogans and speeches merely an annual exercise in political hot air and insincere gestures.