An Open Letter to the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Trust – 18 December 2025

An open letter by a group of UK Holocaust studies and Jewish studies scholars.

Dear members of the board of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust,

We write to you as experts in Holocaust and Jewish studies urging you to reconsider the termination of Melanie Goldberg due to her engagement in Friends of Standing Together UK.

Standing Together is an established Israeli/Palestinian social movement that works for social justice and peace in Israel for both Jews and Palestinians. They consistently offer nuance and moral clarity. The movement has notably pushed for the release of the hostages and decried the horrors of 7 October, as well as condemned the IDF war on Gaza. Their systematic recognition of violence and injustice independent of sides has shown remarkable moral courage. Accused of “normalising” Arab-Jewish relations, they are targeted for boycott by the BDS movement. Standing Together’s values are thoroughly compatible with those of Holocaust remembrance and education; Goldberg’s association with Standing Together deserves praise and not condemnation.

Second, a key legacy of both Holocaust studies and Jewish studies is learning to discuss and live with various interpretations of its meaning and history. At the heart of Judaism stands heterogeneity and diversity. We urge HMDT to recognize that disagreement is a key part of our democratic culture that grew as a European lesson out of the Holocaust.

On the term “genocide” regarding the war in Gaza: while it may be a difficult fact to accept, in the last two years and two months, scholars of Holocaust and Jewish studies have grappled in a range of ways with how to make sense of the war of destruction. While the accusation of genocide has been made in bad faith, including by some with antisemitic intent, the term has been used with care and often anguish by serious genocide scholars. Early calls by historians such as Raz Segal and Amos Goldberg were followed by numerous further scholars, such as Dov Waxman, during the famine in spring 2025. The New York Times dedicated a lengthy podcast with Philippe Sands to this question in August 2025. Whether the war in Gaza merits the definition of genocide is thus a legitimate question and ought not to be delegitimised and lead to termination of employment.

In the current time of rising antisemitism and racism in general as well as growing populism in the US and a number of European countries, we urgently need an engaged, diverse, and democratic commemoration of the Holocaust that encourages people to learn from the past. This memory needs to be inclusive and reflective, rather than proceed through politicised exclusion.

We urge you to reinstate Melanie Goldberg.

Sincerely,

(All signatures in a personal capacity)

Dr Ben Gidley, Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and current president, British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies

Dr Anna Hájková, University of Warwick, History and Centre for Global Jewish Studies

Original signatories:

Dr. Jaime Ashworth, Independent Educator and Researcher

Dr Anne Caldwell, University of Leeds

Professor Bryan Cheyette FEA, University of Reading

Dr Robert Cohen

Professor Peter Davies, University of Edinburgh

Dr Noëmie Duhaut, Lecturer in Modern European Jewish History, Parkes Institute, University of Southampton

Professor David Feldman, Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism

Professor Helen Finch, University of Leeds

Dr Eva Frojmovic, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds

Professor Stephen Frosh, Birkbeck University of London

Professor François Guesnet, University College London

Dr Ben Kasstan-Dabush, University of Edinburgh

Professor Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, Parkes Institute, University of Southampton

Professor Claire Le Foll, University of Southampton

Dr Brendan McGeever, Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism

Dr Uta Rautenberg

Professor Nick Stargardt, University of Oxford

Dr Marcel Stoetzler, Bangor University

Dr Ruth Sheldon, King’s College London

Dr David Tollerton, University of Exeter

Dr Yair Wallach, SOAS, University of London

Further signatories:

Shir Alon, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern studies, University of Minnesota
Dr Joshua Alston, University of Leeds
Dr Joshua Andy, Winchester Thurston School (Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Holocaust Educator of the Year, 2017)
Professor Doris Bergen, University of Toronto
Dr Svenja Bethke, University of Leicester
Professor Louise Bethlehem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor Benjamin Carter Hett, City University of New York
Dr Anca Cretu, University of Warwick
Dr Daniel Elstein, University of Leeds
Howard Falksohn
Professor Michal Friedman, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr Christopher Gilley
Amos Goldderg
Professor Svenja Goltermann, University of Zurich
Dr Sara Halpern, German Historical Institute (Washington, DC)
Professor Rebekah Klein-Pejšová, Purdue University
Arndt Kleesiek, Hessische Lehrkräfteakademie, Kassel
Dr Charlie Knight, University of London
Toby Kunin, Parkes Institute, University of Southampton
Dr Jacob Labendz, Ramapo College of New Jersey (for ID purposes only)
Professor Benjamin Lapp, Montclair State University
Laurie Marhoefer, Professor of History, Affilate, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, University of Washington, Seatttle, USA
Mieka Polanco, American University
Professor Hannah Pollin-Galay, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Martina Ravagnan
Professor Richard Toye, University of Exeter, UK
Dr John Vsetecka, Nova Southeastern University
Natasha Walter, author and descendant of victims of the Holocaust

The letter has also been republished by the UK Friends of Standing Together.

It remains open for now to additional signatories from the fields of Jewish studies and Holocaust studies. To add your name, please use the form at the end of the original letter.

An Open Letter to the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Trust – 18 December 2025

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