Holocaust education program postponed at three UK schools due to ‘community tensions’ – report

The Anne Frank Trust announced on Monday that three UK schools have decided to postpone their Holocaust education programs due to “community tensions.”

The Anne Frank Trust was founded to help provide holocaust education to 9-to-15-year-olds, primarily through Anne Frank’s diary.

The Trust helps primary and secondary schools across the UK with holocaust education. 

The Trust’s CEO Tim Robertson said “Three schools have postponed our programs because of local community tensions,” although he would not give any details, only saying that schools were “of different types and in different parts of the country” and that there was no clear pattern in the postponements.

A drop in the bucket

He told Jewish News that despite three schools dropping out, “Since 7 October we have worked in over 180 schools across England and Scotland, reaching over 17,000 young people and these numbers are up on this period last year.”

Robertson said that they have had to provide extra training for staff to deal with the new situation following October 7, including more focus on Anne’s sister Margot’s dream to move to British Palestine and how her best friend Hannah Goslar rebuilt her life in Israel after surviving Bergen Belsen.

He told the Jewish Chronicle “Holocaust Memorial Day is an invaluable catalyst for uniting people and places in commemorating the Holocaust and other genocides. The surge in anti-Jewish hatred since 7 October may pose a threat to this unity, but it also redoubles our motivation to honor the 6 million and build a world free from antisemitism.”

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