Keir Starmer has urged Brits to stand together against “the hatred of difference” on the 80th Holocaust Memorial Day.
The occasion commemorates how a third of Jewish people – and other minorities – were killed by the Nazi regime in World War 2.
While the war did not end until September 1945, January 27 marks the day the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp that year.
In a statement released overnight, the prime minister said: “The Holocaust was a collective endeavour by thousands of ordinary people utterly consumed by the hatred of difference.
“That is the hatred we stand against today and it is a collective endeavour for all of us to defeat it.”
He continued: “We must start by remembering the six million Jewish victims and by defending the truth against anyone who would deny it.
“But as we remember, we must also act. Because we say ‘never again’ – but where was never again in the genocides of Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur – and where is never again as antisemitism kills Jewish people still?
“Today, we have to make those words mean more. We will make Holocaust education a truly national endeavour.
“We will ensure all schools teach it and seek to give every young person the opportunity to hear a recorded survivor testimony, because by learning from survivors we can develop that empathy for others and that appreciation of our common humanity, which is the ultimate way to defeat the hatred of difference.
“It happened, it can happen again: that is the warning of the Holocaust to us all. And it’s why it is a duty for all of us to make ‘never again’ finally mean what it says: never again.”
His words are particularly poignant amid rising fears that the far-right is gaining traction again.
Tech billionaire, Elon Musk, sent shockwaves around the world when he made a gesture many compared to the Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
He dismissed the claims, later writing on his social media platform X: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
He then made repeated Nazi jokes on X, promoting the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which campaigns against antisemtism, to respond.
CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on Thursday: “The Holocaust was a singularly evil event, and it is inappropriate and offensive to make light of it.”
“@ElonMusk, the Holocaust is not a joke,” Greenblatt added.
But Musk also made a surprise appearance at a weekend rally for the far-right German party, the AfD, which is anti-immigration and anti-Islamic, and urged Germans to stop “focusing on past guilt”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch issued a similar statement to Starmer’s, saying: “As the Holocaust recedes from living memory, it is imperative that we listen to the testimonies of the remaining survivors and ensure their stories are passed on to future generations.”
She added that while reflecting on the past, “we must also confront the resurgence of antisemitism today”.
Badenoch pointed to “the abduction of Jews, violent riots, and attacks on synagogues” seen around the world, and the rise of antisemitism in the UK.
She said: “The Holocaust stands as a unique evil in human history. It is crucial that we learn its lessons and continue to combat antisemitism, ensuring that “never again” truly means never again.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey also said: “We must never forget those appalling atrocities. We must never forget how six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis; how so much inhumanity was inflicted on humans by humans.”