In the past 5 years both the Morrison and Albanese governments have provided funding to enable each state and territory to build, or expand on an existing, Holocaust museums or education centres. The Tasmanian government announced last year it had secured $2m in Commonwealth funding to build a centre at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart.

Email from Greg Barns SC to the Board of Trustees and Director, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery concerning the proposed Holocaust Education and Interpretation Centre

30 SEPTEMBER 2024

I was told last week the Holocaust Education and Interpretation Centre (Centre), announced last year and in respect of which the Tasmanian government has received $2 million from the Commonwealth, is proceeding.

To proceed with the Centre, with a dominant focus on the horror of the Holocaust, is, in view of the genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of terrorism being committed by Israel in Gaza and now in Lebanon, deeply disturbing to many of us. It is grossly insensitive to the Palestinian people who are the victims of Israel’s current genocide and who have suffered since their land was stolen from them in 1947.

To proceed with the Centre while the world watches a nation, Israel, misuse the Holocaust to justify its genocidal intent and actions would be to damage the reputation of TMAG for many years.

That invoking the Holocaust to justify the slaughter of Palestinian people in Gaza is occurring has led to many Jewish and other Holocaust and antisemitism to condemn it. For example, in a letter published in the New York Review of Books on 20 November 2023, 16 such scholars signed a letter in which they said;

“…scholars of the Holocaust and antisemitism from different institutions. We write to express our dismay and disappointment at political leaders and notable public figures invoking Holocaust memory to explain the current crisis in Gaza and Israel.”; Omer Bartov, Christopher R. Browning, Jane Caplan, Debórah Dwork, Michael Rothberg, David Feldman, Atina Grossmann, et al.

I would ask you to consider the following facts so that you think again about support for the Centre in its current form. Unless the Centre includes a focus on the Genocide of Palestinians then it........

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