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Holocaust Memorial becomes makeshift memorial for the Queen, sparking backlash

Backlash against tributes to the late Queen left in Holocaust Memorial Park, with some saying the displays ‘desecrate’ the memory of Holocaust victims.

By World Israel News Staff

A Holocaust memorial in a London park was effectively converted into a memorial site for Queen Elizabeth II, sparking a backlash from critics who said it demeaned the memory of Holocaust victims.

Following the Queen’s passing, London mourners have congregated in the city’s Hyde Park, leaving tributes and displays honoring the late monarch.

Many of the tributes were left in the park’s Holocaust Memorial Garden, with the site littered with pictures, handwritten messages, flowers, and other signs of respect left in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

The sheer number of tributes left in the garden led one reporter to say the site had been converted into a de facto memorial for the Queen.

“The Holocaust Memorial Garden in Hyde Park has now become a makeshift Queen Memorial Garden,” Grace Dean of Business Insider tweeted early Monday morning.

The overflow of tributes to the Queen at the Holocaust Memorial Garden outraged some, including Rabbi Lev Taylor who tweeted Monday that the appropriation of the memorial garden “is so profoundly inappropriate.”

Other critics on social media excoriated the makeshift memorial as “appalling” and “horrifying”, with some calling it a “desecration.”

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Within hours of Dean’s tweet Monday, officials from Royal Parks – the charitable organization which manages eight royal parks in Britain – announced that they have begun removing the tributes from the Holocaust Memorial Garden, tweeting that a park officer has been assigned to the area to ensure that no more tributes are placed outside of the official tribute space.

“The team are carefully removing the tributes from the Holocaust Memorial and laying them with the others in the official floral tribute area.”

“There is also a steward placed there permanently to direct people paying their respects to the floral tribute area.”