31 Dec 2013 – Dr James Smith, co-founder of the UK’s National Holocaust Centre and the Aegis Trust for genocide prevention, is being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the UK’s New Year Honours by Her Majesty the Queen. The CBE is awarded for prominent, distinguished and innovative contributions in any given field.
“It’s a massive privilege to receive this honour,” says Dr Smith. “Mostly however, this is a wonderful recognition of two charities – the National Holocaust Centre and the Aegis Trust, and the many people who have worked to make them successful. I dedicate this award to all Holocaust and genocide survivors who have inspired and worked with me through the years towards our shared goal – a world where men, women and children are no longer at risk of mass atrocities simply because of who they are.”
Dr Smith is President of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, sited in north Nottinghamshire, which he founded with his brother Dr Stephen Smith in 1995. It is visited by hundreds of students every week, who explore its exhibitions and landscaped memorial gardens, where hundreds of roses are dedicated by people who lost loved ones in the Holocaust. Students have the opportunity to meet survivors who come to share their experiences.
Having established the National Holocaust Centre, genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in the early 1990s left James and his brother Stephen feeling that remembering the past alone was not enough. During the Kosovo crisis in 1999, they launched the East Midlands Kosovo Appeal – and James became an Area Coordinator for the International Medical Corps in Albania for several months. Talking to refugees and investigating factors which led to the ethnic cleansing he saw that mass atrocities or genocide don’t occur spontaneously. Just as with diseases, if the risk factors can be identified then genocide too should be preventable. And so in 2000, James and his brother launched the Aegis Trust for genocide prevention.
“I’ve been proud to know James at The Holocaust Centre for the past seventeen years,” says Nottingham resident Lisa Vincent, who escaped from Nazi Germany with the Kindertransport before the outbreak of World War II. “He deserves this honour for all his achievements, both for the Jewish community and for the Aegis Trust. Congratulations!”
“I’m elated. There couldn’t be a better person to receive an honour,” said Simon Winston, also from Notts, who survived the Holocaust as a child in the Ukraine. “James is one of those who does things regardless of the reward, but he’s got it nonetheless. Fantastic.”
“James is an exceptional human being who’s invested so much wisdom, energy, feeling and thought in helping survivors and improving the world. It’s a tremendous honour, but it was definitely coming to him,” says Auschwitz survivor Susan Pollack. “He’s a great leader, and we’re cheering for him today. This gives value and weight to all the causes that he’s brought to international attention.”
“Today’s award is exciting not only for Aegis but for the field, because genocide prevention doesn’t feature much in the media,” says Kemal Pervanic, survivor of the Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia. “And for James to have this kind of recognition, after so many years of hard work and campaigning, is just fantastic.”
“James’ commitment and dedication to remembrance, to survivors, and to “never again,” have been truly inspiring to me personally and to all who support the mission of Aegis Trust. His creativity, persistence, and self sacrifice are a model of how one person can stand up and refuse to let our collective history of mass atrocities and genocide be repeated,” says John Montgomery, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Aegis. “Congratulations on this well deserved honour!”
“This is a wonderful recognition of James’ remarkable achievements for both the National Holocaust Centre and the Aegis Trust. It is also yet another acknowledgement of his equally remarkable family, following previous awards to his mother and brother,” says Henry Grunwald OBE QC, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Holocaust Centre. “I and the Centre are immensely proud of James and look forward to all that our President will continue to do for us in the years ahead.”
