The UK must engage even more strongly with the Council of Europe
5 min read
At a time of national and international discord we must show that Britain is still capable of showing leadership when it matters, argues Angela Smith
The names Buchenwald, Auschwitz and Dachau are well known to most of us. Natzweiler-Struthof, on the other hand, may not be as well-known but its history is every bit as grim. Struthof was the only concentration camp built on French soil. Located in the Nazi-occupied region of Alsace, it opened in May 1941 and was liberated in September 1944.
During its time in operation some 52,000 people from 32 nationalities passed through its gates and of those it is estimated that 22,000 died. Those who suffered were from countries such as Poland, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Slovenia and Norway and many of them were captured ‘Nacht und Nebel’ prisoners, people of the resistance movements throughout mainland Europe.
They included four women members of the Special Operations Executive – Britons Diana Rowden and Vera Leigh plus the French national Andrée Borrel and German-born Sonya Olschanezky – who were murdered together on 4th July 1944. Two Royal Airforce airmen, Dennis Cochran and Tony Hayter, were cremated at Natzweiler-Struthof after their murder by the Gestapo. They had been involved in the ‘Great Escape’ and were amongst those killed after re-capture.
Last month I joined the leader of the UK delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Sir Roger Gale, at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Struthof, in an act of remembrance. I did so as leader of the Labour delegation and we were accompanied by the British Permanent Representative in Strasbourg. Roger and I laid our memorial wreath against the stark background of the gallows.
The wreath-laying ceremony was followed by a simple service attended by diplomatic representatives of many countries and, most movingly, by a few of the now very aged survivors of incarceration in the camp. It is an experience we will never forget.
The vile nature of the concentration camps and their grim role in the Holocaust is, of course, well known and well documented. The Struthof is just one of those camps where `medical experiments` were carried out by the Nazis, alongside the forced labour and the executions. We left this awful place with a renewed respect for those who risked and gave their lives in the fight for freedom and the struggle for democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
The UK mainland was not, of course, occupied during or after the war by German, Allied or Soviet troops. There were no concentration camps built upon our soil and while we suffered, as a nation, huge losses of life on foreign fields and through air-raids at home we were never defiled in quite the same way as the lands of our immediate friends and neighbours.
The “European Project” is promoted and defended most fiercely by those who, having had first-hand experience of occupation, are determined that it should never be allowed to happen again. It is a sentiment and strength of feeling that we would do well to remember in these difficult times, when division and discord appears to be increasingly dominant in both national and international dialogue.
Winston Churchill and the leaders of nine other countries founded the Council of Europe as a bastion against the possibility of another war in Europe or another Holocaust. As we leave the EU we must strengthen our ties with the now 46-member countries of the Council of Europe, if we are truly to honour the memory of those who died in the Struthof and other concentration camps.
Strengthening those ties with our European neighbours needs to start with a more positive embrace of what the Council of Europe stands for. Tensions relating to migration, race and national identity are on the rise across the continent, particularly in Council of Europe member states such as Poland, Hungary and Italy.
That is why the UK needs to continue its valuable work. Members of the UK delegation are very active, not just in terms of participation in debates and votes, but also in committee work and in the very important work of observing member state elections. Lord Blencathra and I, for instance, were part of the Council of Europe delegation which observed the recent Presidential election in Azerbaijan and led the way in making sure that the post-election assessment of the election was accurate.
The Council of Europe is an institution of 70 years standing, but that does not provide certainty for its long-term future. It faces huge challenges, especially in the context of the behaviour of some of its own members.
The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 represented a violation of Ukrainian sovereign territory and yet both countries are member states of the council.
At a time therefore when the values which led to the institution’s birth are under threat, it is imperative that the UK, with its long history of defending democracy, human rights and the rule of law, should engage even more strongly with the Council of Europe.
We have credibility on these issues and we need to show that our country is still capable of showing leadership when it matters.
Angela Smith is Labour MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge and is leader of the Labour delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
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