News
Actions by Holocaust survivors and descendants who have taken a stand for Palestine
Letter to the UK Prime Minister
12 May 2026
More than 40 British survivors and descendants of survivors of the Holocaust have written an open letter to the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, copied to the Home Secretary and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The letter criticises statements by Starmer and others that link recent attacks on Jewish persons and property to pro-Palestine marches. It deplores the instrumentalisation of Jewish safety in order to further repress freedom of speech, protest and assembly.
The letter calls on the Prime Minister to promote Jewish safety constructively by publicly acknowledging that Israel is not acting on behalf of all Jews and that its crimes are condemned by many Jewish people in Britain and around the world.
Vigil at Buchenwald
11 Apr 2026
Jews from the “Kufiyas in Buchenwald” campaign, including descendants of Holocaust survivors, gathered at the memorial site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp to hold a vigil highlighting the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The memorial authorities, who ban the wearing of kufiyas and Palestinian symbols, had prevented the campaign from holding a vigil to honour all victims and survivors of genocide and fascism inside the former camp.
The campaign has issued a press release about the vigil as well as a statement describing its aims.
Holocaust Memorial Day
27 Jan 2026
Holocaust survivors and descendants have spoken out on Holocaust Memorial Day.
The common theme is:
Never Again! must mean never again for anyone, including for Palestinians.
Screenshot from Jewish Voice for Liberation.
Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week resigns
13 Jan 2026
Louise Adler, daughter of Holocaust survivors and the Director of the Adelaide Writers’ Week, Australia’s largest literary event, resigned after the Adelaide Festival board cancelled an invitation to Randa Abdel-Fattah, an Australian writer of Palestinian descent. As part of the backlash against the cancellation, some 180 participants withdrew and the Writers’ Week was called off.
Before coming to Australia in 1949, Louise Adler’s parents survived the Holocaust in France; many other family members perished. She has previously spoken out for justice for the Palestinian people.
She has also joined the advisory committee of the Jewish Council of Australia, which supports Palestinian freedom and justice.
Screenshot from YouTube/Jewish Council of Australia
Protest at the Home Office
24 Nov 2025
A protest against the proscription of the direct action organisation Palestine Action saw the arrest of two Holocaust survivor descendants, Elizabeth Morley and Chris Romberg. The protest took place outside the Home Office in London, the British government’s ministry of the interior.
For 80 year old Elizabeth Morley, whose father survived Auschwitz, it was her fifth arrest. She had also been arrested in her home town of Aberystwyth in the previous week, as reported here.
Screenshot from Facebook - Palestine Solidarity Aberystwyth
Photo credits: khashayarscamera.com
Holocaust and Nakba Survivors meet
11 Oct 2025
Stephen Kapos, survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary, and Antoine Raffoul, survivor of the 1948 Nakba in Palestine, met in person for the first time during the March for Palestine, in Westminster in London.
The stories of the two men are the subject of a documentary with the working title The Last Survivors being produced by film-makers Andrea Kapos (Stephen’s daughter) and Jacquie Beaumont.
See the video of their emotional meeting here.
Screenshot from The Canary/Skwawkbox 11 Oct 2025
Stephen also spoke out along with Holocaust survivor Agnes Kory and son of a Holocaust survivor Mark Etkind in this video of the voices of some of the 500,000 participants in the march.
Screenshot from Novara Media 11 Oct 2025
Defend our Juries Protest
4 Oct 2025
Elizabeth Morley, daughter of a survivor of Auschwitz, was one of those arrested at the Defend our Juries protest on Trafalgar Square in London. This was the third time she has been arrested for holding a sign with the words: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.
Other Holocaust survivor descendants also turned out as witnesses of the protest. Mark Etkind, the son of a Holocaust survivor from Poland, spoke with Novara Media to explain why he was there. To watch Mark’s interview click here.
Screenshot from Sky News
Screenshot from Novara Media
Holocaust survivor speaks at London’s Wembley Arena
17 Sep 2025
Stephen Kapos, survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary, spoke at the star-studded Together for Palestine concert and received one of the longest standing ovations of the night.
To watch Stephen’s speech click here.
Screenshot from AJ+
Holocaust survivor descendant among those arrested in Defend our Juries protest
6 Sep 2025
Carolyn Gelenter, the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor from Poland, was among over 1,000 protestors in London’s Parliament Square on 6 September 2025. The protest had been organised by the group Defend our Juries against the prohibition by the British government of the direct action network Palestine Action.
Along with almost 900 others, Carolyn was arrested under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 for holding a cardboard sign with the words “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Carolyn was arrested in the middle of an interview. You can watch the interview and her arrest here.
Screenshot from Metro
Protests in London
6 Sep 2025
Holocaust survivor descendants formed part of the Witness Circle in London’s Parliament Square in support of the Defend our Juries protest against the British government’s prohibition of the direct action network Palestine Action.
At the same time, others joined the National March for Palestine, taking up position outside Bush House on Aldwych.
Son of Auschwitz Survivor Arrested in Berlin
5 Jul 2025
Thomas Gögel, the 76 year-old son of a survivor of Auschwitz and a member of the German organisation, Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Near East, was arrested by Berlin police while speaking at a demonstration. He had compared the use of food to lure Palestinians into killing zones in Gaza to the Nazi use of ‘showers’ to lure victims to the gas chambers.
The organisation reported that he was charged with incitement to hatred for having “glorified the Holocaust”. His father survived Auschwitz, but most of his father’s family were murdered there.
