Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, has said he will “take the fight to the anti-Semites”, as he announced a £1m package for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.
Monday is Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps.
Writing for HuffPost UK today, Jenrick said the “shameful truth is that the cancer of anti-Semitism did not end with the liberation of the death camps”.
Jenrick said he would “not rest until anti-Semitism is rooted out of our society” and would “do all in my power to protect our Jewish countrymen and women”.
The communities secretary attended the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem on Thursday at which leaders from over 50 countries assembled to mark the anniversary.
“When one walks out of the shadowy darkness of Yad Vashem, you emerge into the brilliant sunshine and beauty of the Jerusalem hills,” he said.
“There is a sense of hope for the future and wonderment at the remarkable resilience of the Jewish people.
“I felt that again when I returned home and looked at my own children, the great-grandchildren of concentration camp survivors.”
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation endowment fund supports the consolidation, restoration and long-term maintenance of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.
The funding will come from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Foreign Office.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said he remembered the “heart-rending laments” by his grandmother for the family lost to Auschwitz and other death camps.
“The government is supporting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, because we must never forget history’s darkest moment, and we must educate future generations so it can never be repeated,” he said.
Raab will be speaking at a Holocaust memorial event on Wednesday in which he will emphasise the importance of Holocaust remembrance and education as a means of ensuring such atrocities never happen again.