Holocaust Remembrance in an age of uncertainty

Senior Researcher and HoD Danish Delegation to IHRA Cecilie Felicia Stokholm Banke spoke at the Finnish Holocaust Remembrance Day in House of Estates, Helsinki 26 January 2017.

Holocaust Remembrance in an Age of Uncertainty:What can we learn from history?

Every yearonthe 27 of January, European countries commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. In Denmark, we also use the occasion to commemorate the victims of other genocides, including the Roma, Rwandan, Bosnian and Armenian peoples. However,Holocaust Remembrance Dayis also a day to reflect and contemplate.AndsinceI have been asked to reflect upon the recent developments within Holocaust and genocide studies,I will devote these few minutes to what I call Holocaust Remembrance in an Age of Uncertainty: What can we learn from history?

First, I think that most of us are following very closely what is happening in and around Syria, and understand how it has led to the destabilization of the whole region.I was recently in Ankara, where I had the opportunity to speak with people in the Turkish government , as well as with national experts and members of think tanks, and it is quite clear that Turkey feels the repercussions from the war in Syria very acutely.

For genocide scholars and human rights organizations, an issue of concern here is the situation of theYazidis and other minority groups like the Armenians.TheUS-basedGenocide Watch has issued a Genocide Emergency for Iraq, whereISIS fighters, have especially targeted the Yazidis. While we do not know precisely what is taking place, we know that there have been mass rapes and mass killings, and we know there are many unanswered questions aboutwhat should be done in the aftermath of such crimes.

Though it is still uncertain what will follow an eventual peace in Syria, experience from Europe shows us that, in order to be able to move on peacefully, these societies will have to go through some kind of legal process that will eventually allow them to come to terms with a difficult past that includes horrific crimes and atrocities. The experience gained in Europe following the Second World War teaches us that prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity is important, not only for the victims themselves, but also for the society as a whole.

Second, as ascholarand historianbased in Europe,Iam deeply affectedby the influx of refugeescoming from this area to Europe and the intense debates that their arrival in our countries has created. How should we respond to the refugee crisis, and what impact will this influx of refugees l have on our politics.

The refugee issue will surely dominate the upcoming elections in the Netherlands, France, and Germany, and again, we can learn from past experience. Severalparallels have been drawn already both in national and international mediabetween the currentsituation,and the situation before and during the Holocaust, which, to some extent, makesgood sense.

As the two American historians Neustadt and May argue in what is now a classic work, Rethinking in Time, politicians and policy makers would be wise to consider history when making decisions

One of the main things we can learn at the present time from the history of Holocaust is, in my view, how states failed in the 30’s to find a solution to the refugee problem created by the Nazi’s discrimination and persecution of Jews.

Within Holocaust Studies, Denmark is credited for having helpedthe majority of its Jewishpopulationto escape to SwedeninOctober 1943 in what is considered aunique rescue operation. However, what is less well known is thatDenmark followed a very restrictive refugee policy towards German Jewish refugees during the 1930s.

Only around 2.000 with refugees with Jewish background were allowed entry to Denmark during the period 1933 to 1945. And, like several other European states, Denmark failed to recognize the dimension of the anti-Jewish policiesof Nazi-Germany in 1933, just as statesfailed laterto solve the refugeeproblem.

In the most famous example of failure, , the American President Roosevelt hosted an international meeting in the French city of Evián in July 1938, during which states were supposed to find a common solution to the refugee problem created by Nazi-Germany. No states would compromise on numbers of refugees or quotas. President Roosevelt returned to the US with no commitment from any government, while the refugees became even more panicked and dependent on private agencies in their search for safe havens and refuge.

The rest is history. Europe of 1938 was already a closed continent compelling people to leave or flee, while countries became even more protectionist and less cooperative in their approach not only to Jewish refugees, but also to Nazi-Germany.

It seems to me that there are clear parallels between the failure of states to find a solution at the conference in Evianin 1938 and the failure today of states in finding common groundon how to respond to thethousands of refugees fleeingISIS andthe war in Syria. Here we ought to learn from our own history in Europe. If we do not find a common solution to the problems we are facing in Europe, the institutions developed after the Second World War to improve cooperation will lose credibility and legitimacy.

Some time ago, Ihad a conversation with the former Danish minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Niels Helveg Petersen, who served during the 1990s and in the intervention in Kosovo, in 1999. Some of you may remember the debate taking place in 1999 about whether NATO should intervene in Kosovoto prevent ahumanitarian disaster. As a scholar, I am interested in what makes governments actandintervene to stoppersecution, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, andmassviolence. Why is it that states could agree to intervenein Kosovo in 1999,while, later, it became so much more difficult? How was the context different then as opposed to now?

I asked Mr. Petersen about his motivation for supporting the intervention. His answer, delivered promptly, was very clear: It was the prevention of a refugee crisisthatled him, and thus the Danish government, to support the action in Kosovo in 1999. “We wanted topreventa situation with 500.000 refugees being placed in refugee campsaroundEurope.”

Unfortunately, it seems that current governments have not learned much from this particular history. Europe today is faced with a refugee problem comparable to the situation following the end of the Second World War, and European States do not seem to be able to solve this problem together.While states could find common ground back in 1999, it seems this is no longer the case.

Again, we can learn from this history. We can learn about the conditions that made the intervention possible, and we can trace the successes and failures.

This is what we have to do on a day like this. Commemorate, but also contemplate and reflect. Reflect upon our current situation and use history as a guide for how to better understand the problems that we face.

I thank you for your attention.