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History
The Holocaust Memorial Day 27 January 2015
Since 2001, KEVICC has been involved in
events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
(HMD), a national day of remembrance
organised by the Holocaust Memorial
Day Trust
hmd.org.uk
Ed Coles describes what happened:
A few days beforehand, Mr Davies
persuaded Hannah Blackwell, Rowan
Hard, Jess Orr, Elly Wilson, Callum
McGinnis and myself to take part in
the Holocaust memorial assembly.
I wasn't too sure what the assembly
would entail but all of us were keen
to get involved and play a part in
such an important subject. After a
couple of lunchtime sessions and
some rehearsals on the day, we were
all ready to go
.
HMD is held on the 27 January,
the anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz in 1945 by the Russians.
Auschwitz was the largest of the death
camps and revealed to the whole world
the scale of the crimes committed by
the Nazis during the Holocaust 1933 to
1945. To mark HMD this year, the History
department gathered together a team of
six Year 9 students.
Callum McGinnis takes up the story:
Silence descended as 250 Year 9
students gathered to commemorate
the 70 years since the liberation of
Auschwitz, on the annual Holocaust
Memorial Day. The service began
with a play, to gain understanding
of the effect of the Nazi regime on
a normal family, following their
lives and the persecution they went
through from the beginning of the
Nazi regime up to their deaths at
Auschwitz.
Elly Wilson, the lead character of Anita
in the play, said she:
enjoyed being part
of the play and it reallymademe realise
what it would have been like from the
victims' perspective.
Great praise should be given to the
students who worked so hard on
this assembly. The topics covered
are hard to deal with and can
be a challenge for experienced
teachers. For these young students
to create and perform such a
powerful and moving ceremony
was outstanding. It was therefore
very encouraging to hear that they
found they got so much out of
being involved.
Ed Coles summed up the students'
views when he said:
I found it a sombre yet important
day. I feel I have playedmy part in
vowing never to forget the victims
of genocide.
As a child I feel there is not a
more relative statement than this
one said by Holocaust survivor,
Romain Kent: We survivors do not
want our past to be our children's
future
.
