Starmer visits ‘harrowing’ Auschwitz and vows renewed fight against antisemitism

Sir Keir Starmer has visited Auschwitz, a place he described as “utterly harrowing”, and said he was determined to fight the “poison of antisemitism”.

The Prime Minister visited the former Nazi concentration camp as he travelled to Poland to meet with the country’s political leaders.

Speaking following his time at the camp, Sir Keir said: “Nothing could prepare me for the sheer horror of what I have seen in this place. It is utterly harrowing. The mounds of hair, the shoes, the suitcases, the names and details, everything that was so meticulously kept, except for human life.

“As I stood by the train tracks at Birkenau, looking across that cold, vast expanse, I felt a sickness, an air of desolation, as I tried to comprehend the enormity of this barbarous, planned, industrialised murder: a million people killed here for one reason, simply because they were Jewish.”

His wife Victoria, who is Jewish, joined him for the visit and was “equally moved”, Sir Keir said.

He added: “It was her second visit, but no less harrowing than the first time she stepped through that gate and witnessed the depravity of what happened here.”

The Prime Minister warned of the rising threat of antisemitism in recent years, including at home in the UK.

He added: “The truth that I have seen here today will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“So too, will my determination to defend that truth, to fight the poison of antisemitism and hatred in all its forms, and to do everything I can to make ‘never again’ mean what it says, and what it must truly mean: never again.”

Sir Keir has travelled to Poland after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, where he vowed the UK will “play our part” in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security following any peace deal with Russia.

In Poland he is expected to discuss the new UK-Poland treaty with his counterpart Donald Tusk, which will support both countries working together to protect Europe from Russian aggression and work together to tackle people smuggling gangs.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust said the charity was “grateful to the Prime Minister for leading the way in ensuring that the horrors of the past are always remembered”.

She also said: “The Prime Minister has today seen for himself the most notorious site of the Holocaust, the former Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“Nothing can prepare you for seeing the magnitude of this place that was built for the sole purpose of extermination, where approximately a million Jewish men, women and children were systematically murdered.

“The haunting artifacts, such as the piles of hair, shoes and belongings, bear witness to the unimaginable suffering inflicted here and we have no doubt this visit will have had a profound impact.

“As we mark this milestone anniversary 80 years after the liberation of the camp, at a time when eyewitnesses are dwindling in number and as antisemitism continues to surge, it is more crucial than ever that this history is remembered.”

Published: 17/01/2025 by Radio NewsHub