A new exhibition is set to tour the UK, exploring the “complex and unsettling” story of what Britain knew during the Holocaust, as plans for a permanent national memorial advance. The exhibition, which was viewed privately by MPs at Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate in Westminster in September, highlights how news of the atrocity reached Britain much earlier than is commonly understood.
Exhibition Details and Research
The research draws upon newspaper reporting, broadcasts, academic scholarship, witness testimony, and government archives. The exhibition is a sample of a more extensive, permanent exhibition planned for the national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, which is to be located in London.
Martin Winstone, senior historical adviser to the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “There’s a feeling today that Britain really only found out about the Holocaust at the end of the war. But in 1942, the year in which most victims of the Holocaust were murdered, you couldn’t really escape this information in Britain. It was in every newspaper. It was on the BBC.”
The Role of the Manchester Guardian
Winstone noted that the Manchester Guardian was the newspaper that reported most extensively on the Holocaust, taking a “crusading position” that more could be done by the British and allied governments. The newspaper, which was banned from Germany in 1933 for highlighting Adolf Hitler’s antisemitism, called for immigration restrictions to be lifted for Jews and lobbied for pressure on neutral nations to open their borders to refugees.
Much of the information about the Holocaust, including the locations of death camps, was smuggled out of Poland by couriers to the London-based Polish government-in-exile. Winstone described the situation as challenging, noting that for much of the war, Britain was on the defensive. He said: “On one level, the government’s response was always, ‘we’ll win the war, that’s how we stop this’; while critics said, ‘there’ll be nobody left to save, if that’s what you’re waiting for’.”
Public Opinion and Government Reports
During the second world war, the government commissioned reports on antisemitism in Britain, with agents opening people’s mail and recording conversations in air raid shelters. Ministry of Information bulletins revealed mass public sympathy for Jews in occupied Europe, but also anti-migration and antisemitic sentiment. Winstone added: “Nearly everybody in Britain was disgusted about these mass murders, but at the same time you start getting more antisemitic discourse about Jews in Britain – that Jews were running the black market, avoiding military service and spreading panic.”
Winstone said UK immigration laws in the 1930s were highly restrictive, in part due to earlier antisemitism. After the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938, Britain relaxed restrictions, allowing Jewish children to come from Europe without visas. British women, from MP Eleanor Rathbone to grassroots fundraisers, were at the forefront of humanitarian efforts.
Memorial Plans and Tour Schedule
A 2021 survey by Claims Conference found that 21% of the British public knew the UK government was aware of the mass murder of Jews as early as 1941. The UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation is co-chaired by Ed Balls and Eric Pickles, who said the exhibition would give an early insight into the work for the forthcoming memorial.
The exhibition will be at the Northern Ireland assembly from 30 October until 13 November, the Scottish parliament from 7 to 10 December, before travelling to Cardiff from 16 January to 4 February 2027, coinciding with Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January. It is also expected to visit Manchester, with a date and venue yet to be confirmed. The UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, planned for Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster, does not have a confirmed opening date, as a planning application is being redetermined by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Holocaust Memorial Act 2026 received royal assent this year, granting legal clearance and government funding for the project.
