November 2008

The last week has been historic. The US election is significant, not only for the election of the first black President but also for the mile long queues of Americans, with many voting for the first time. These voters were exercising the hard fought democratic values of freedom and respect for the rule of law. Last weekend we were remembering those men and women who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of our freedoms. I was pleased that we were able to reinstate the act of Remembrance on Tuesday at the ‘Cairn’ in Broomfield Park on the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day.

Every Remembrance Day is a poignant event, particularly with our brave servicemen and women risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year marked the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, otherwise known as the Night of the Broken Glass for the shattered window panes that carpeted streets, in which the Nazi government sanctioned a wave of pogroms against the German and Austrian Jewish communities. November 9th and 10th 1938 was the beginning of the systematic eradication of the Jewish people and a prelude to the Holocaust. The night saw at least 91 innocent people murdered, many others injured and 30,000 arrested and sent to concentration camps simply because they were Jewish. For me the timing was significant because last Thursday I visited Auschwitz concentration camp and Birkenau death camp. I took part in a Holocaust education programme with students from Winchmore, Gladys Aylward and Ashmole schools and other students from London. The industrialised scale of inhumanity was all too evident as was the reminder of individual families and communities being destroyed. Remembrance also requires action and the anniversaries remind us all that evil must always be confronted forcefully and that the civilised world cannot stand idly by whilst barbarism and mass murder continue to be committed against innocent people.