Special envoy for post-Holocaust issues to speak at OGH dinner

About 100 people, including members of the island’s Jewish community and former Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache, are expected to attend the event, which is being held as a follow on from Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January.

Lord Pickles was appointed Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust issues in September 2015, and works with Holocaust academics, survivors and educational social organisations in the UK as part of his role.

In July last year, he announced a review of the number of prisoners who died in Alderney during the Nazi Occupation, and gathered a panel of 11 experts to assess the evidence.

Additionally, he co-chairs the UK’s Holocaust Memorial Foundation, while he was elected as chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel in the House of Lords last year.

His chief of staff Sally Sealey said that he was looking forward to coming to the island and speaking and engaging with the local Jewish community.

‘Lord Pickles was asked to come to Guernsey by members of the Jewish community. They graciously extended an invite for him to speak at the Holocaust Memorial Dinner at the OGH Hotel.’

He served as the Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar between 1992 and 2017, during which time he was a member of former Prime Minister David Cameron’s cabinet as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2015.

He was made a Life Peer in 2018.

She added that his speech was likely to reflect on the fragility of freedom – which was the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day – as well as Holocaust distortion and denial in light of the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 last year.

Event organiser Darren Vogel said he was delighted to facilitate the visit.

‘It’s an honour to welcome him to Guernsey. The event sold out in 48 hours and we have received lots of support from the island’s churches as well as interest from the public. This promises to be a very special and thought-provoking evening.’