ABSTRACT
The attempt to fit the Covid-19 crisis within memory of Britain and the Second World War has been blatant and often blatantly crude. The War is an easily accessible 'usable past' but it also one that is increasingly contested, including the complex set of responses and reactions that reflect Britain's relationship with the Holocaust. Whilst for most of the postwar era in Britain, the Holocaust was generally ignored, or put under the heading only of 'Nazi atrocities', more recently the limitations of British responses to helping the Jews of Europe have been emphasised in scholarship. This critical approach has not, however, been present more generally in memory work, especially at an official level, where Britain is presented as the saviour of persecuted Jewry. This is especially the case with regard to the liberation of Belsen, the 75th anniversary of which occurred in the first few months of Covid-19 in the UK. This chapter explores whether the epidemic has strengthened or undermined celebratory readings of Britain's responses to the genocidal nature of the Third Reich and how links are made to current refugee policy. © Peter Lang Group AG 2021. All rights reserved.