After eighty years, there is no excuse to not know about the Holocaust

MPs will again show their respect by falling silent in the House of Commons

It takes a lot to silence the House of Commons. However, 80 years ago, the Islington South MP, William Cluse, did exactly that. On 17 December 1942, MPs responded to the British government's first public acknowledgement of the Holocaust with a spontaneous moment of silence - a first for the chamber.

Anthony Eden, the then foreign secretary, read a declaration based on reports from the Polish government-in-exile, detailing the atrocities taking place in Nazi-occupied Europe. Eden reported that: From all the occupied countries Jews are being transported, in conditions of appalling horror and brutality, to Eastern Europe ... None of those taken away are ever heard of again. The able-bodied are slowly worked to death in labour camps. The infirm are left to die of exposure and starvation or are deliberately massacred in mass executions." As he detailed the crimes being committed by the Nazis in occupied Europe, the house listened in stunned silence.