‘Never right to make comparisons’? Holocaust memory, climate crisis, and the debate over appropriate discourse

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article considers the relationship between the Holocaust and the increased threat of mass violence due to climate change. Extreme weather events, resource deprivation, and population movements are likely to cause societal stresses which make genocide more probable, but the link between this and memory of the Holocaust has proven contentious. Starting with Archbishop Justin Welby’s apology for invoking the Holocaust during international climate negotiations in 2021, this article considers the history and causes of such controversy, arguing that there are selected ways in which it is reasonable and useful to bring Holocaust memory into dialogue with the climate crisis. .