BS: Beth Shalom. Laxton, UK

Subject: Beth Shalom. Laxton, UK
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 02:32 PM

With Remembrance Day looming, and Israeli-Palestinian conflict high on the news agenda, this might be the right time to mention the Holocaust Memorial Centre (Beth Shalom) at Laxton, near Newark-on-Trent.

It's not looking for plugs -it's not yet fully open to the public, with private visits accommodated only by appointment. The main audience is schoolchildren and students, with 150-250 visiting daily from all over Britain.

Nevertheless many mudcatters, including those stateside who are still prepared to get on planes and visit the UK -will be interested to know about it.

It has grown from the vision of two brothers, non-Jewish, both doctors, who became aware of the full horror of the holocaust while travelling in Europe, and who were amazed when they got home to find that there was no such centre in the UK.

They've provided one. It does not ignore the various other genocidal atrocities of the last century, from the Turkish slaughter of Armenians around 1916 through to the carnage of Rwanda a few years ago, and it sets the holocaust in that wider context.

In short, the whole thing is incredibly well done. You need two or three hours to take it all in, and for most people the experience seems to be not so much distressing as profoundly moving. What these two guys have achieved is quite extraordinary.