Antisemitism and the politics of holocaust memorial day in the UK and Italy

Abstract

Since the inception of Holocaust Memorial Day, the event and its focus have come under considerable attack from a number of quarters, particularly (although by no means exclusively) from some sections of Muslim communities. This chapter analyses some of the arguments advanced and the extent to which they reflect in both the UK and Italy a growing and wider reluctance to acknowledge the centrality of antisemitism to the Holocaust. It suggests that this may be connected to a rearticulation of antisemitism in a new context which both risks silencing survivors anew and is counterproductive for thinking about the problem of genocide today.