Hammond tackles anti-semitism with £1.7m for Holocaust school trips

PHILIP HAMMOND is to give charities £1.7million to help educate students on the Holocaust, amid an unprecedented rise in anti-semitic crimes.

The Chancellor is expected to award the additional funding in the Budget in order to pay for visits to Bergen-belsen concentration camp in Germany.

By visiting the camp, which was liberated by the British Army in 1945, it is hoped that students will gain a greater understanding of the Holocaust and how it came about.

The funds will also be used to pay for school projects, access to archival documents from the time, and for pupils to hear first-hand testimonies from survivors. It comes after the Community Security Trust, which was founded to ensure the safety and security of the British Jewish community, reported that 1,382 anti-semitic incidents took place last year, the highest on record.

In its report, the organisation said that the publicity generated by Labour’s anti-semitism crisis had contributed to the rise. Whilst the number of incidents has fallen this year, there was a spike in April and May, which was partly blamed on the row within Labour being reignited over allegations levelled against Jeremy Corbyn.

Three-quarters of incidents involved abusive behaviour, including antisemitic graffiti, hate mail, verbal abuse and offensive posts on social media.

Bergen-belsen was a concentration camp established by the Nazis during the Second World War, where more than 50,000 prisoners died, including Anne Frank. The funding will build on the £50million set aside by the Government for the new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, which will be built next to Parliament.

Last night, Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “This year we have seen an unprecedented level of anti-semitism across the UK.

“With government support we will create a generation of advocates for history, an army of young people from every background, ready to stand up and speak out against hatred.

“These young people will use their knowledge and experiences, alongside fresh resources, and further opportunities to learn about the Holocaust, to challenge increasing cases of Holocaust denial, distortion and hate.

“The experience of the British soldiers who liberated Bergen-belsen must never be forgotten, and our work will help to ensure that the relevance of the Holocaust here in Britain is upheld by each generation.”