Government to set up £1.7m fund for Holocaust education charities

According to The Jewish Chronicle, the fund will be announced during Monday's Budget

The HET organises trips to Auschwitz-Birkenau

The government is set to create a £1.7m fund to support charities working on Holocaust education.

The fund, which will come jointly from the Treasury and the Department for Education, will be announced formally during the Budget on Monday, according to a report in The Jewish Chronicle.

Charities will be invited to apply to the fund to support the organisation of trips for young people to concentration camps and visits to schools by Holocaust survivors. The Treasury has not yet confirmed details about how the money will be released.

Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Education Trust, highlighted the importance of such work at a time when the UK has seen an unprecedented level of antisemitism.

"We are delighted to be working with the Department for Education and Her Majesty’s Treasury to develop plans to address this issue head-on through education," Pollock said in a statement.

"With government support, we will create a generation of advocates for history, an army of young people from every background, ready to stand up and speak out against hatred today and in the future."

The fund will help charities and wider society "to challenge increasing cases of Holocaust denial, distortion and hate", she added.

The HET received more than £2.5m in government funding last year to run its Lessons From Auschwitz programme across the UK, which includes a one-day visit for students and teachers to the former concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.