Karen Emma Pollock is a British writer, activist and chief executive of the

Holocaust Educational Trust The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) is a British charity, based in London, whose aim is to "educate young people of every background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today." One of the Trust's main achievements ...

(HET).

Early life

Pollock was politically active while at university, engaging with the National Union of Students and the

Union of Jewish Students The Union of Jewish Students of the United Kingdom and Ireland (UJS) represents Jewish students in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a member of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) and the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) and a ...

Career

She was Director of the

All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism The All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The group exists to "To combat antisemitism and help develop and seek implementation of effective public policy to combat antisemitism". The ...

. She later joined the

(HET) in 1998 as Director of Communications. Pollock was promoted to chief executive of the organisation in 2000. One campaign led by Pollock was asking the government to recognise British people who had saved Jewish lives during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Pollock was praised by politicians across the spectrum for 'Lessons from Auschwitz', a program that has enabled thousands of sixth form and university students to visit

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. Alongside HET, she is involved with the anti-fascist organisation ''

Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

'' and the ''

London Jewish Forum Established in 2006, The London Jewish Forum (LJF) is dedicated to the promotion of Jewish life in London. The Forum provides a platform for engagement between London Jewry and the Greater London Authority, Mayor of London, London Boroughs and MP ...

'', as well as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust of which she was a founding trustee. She has written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

Jewish News The ''Jewish News'' is a free weekly newspaper, established in 1997, that serves the Jewish communities of Greater London – specifically Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex. In 2002, it won the ''Press Gazette'' free newspaper of the year. In F ...

'', ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' and gave a

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

entitled 'The search for humanity in the Holocaust' for TEDxDurhamUniversity 2016. She represented

British Jews British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who identify as Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021. History ...

at the United Nations World Conference against Racism in 2001 and 2009. She is a vice-president of the

Jewish Leadership Council The Jewish Leadership Council (previously known as the Jewish Community Leadership Council) is an organisation in the United Kingdom, founded in 2003, whose declared aim is to forward the interests of the organised Jewish community in Britain. ...

. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

for services to education, specifically about

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, and

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to Holocaust education.

References

The Holocaust and the United Kingdom 21st-century British writers 21st-century British women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-activist-stub