History
Since 2001, KEVICC has been involved in
events to mark the Holocaust Memorial
Day (HMD), a national day of remembrance
organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day
Trust (hmd.org.uk). HMD is held on the 27th
of 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 a
team of three Year 9 students and three Year
12 students to lead a memorial assembly.
Holocaust memorial day
The play was followed by a hard-hitting film about how an individual
reacted to the horrors of the camps. This filmwasmade eight years ago
by some KEVICC students when they had the privilege of interviewing
Elizabeth Dearden. As a Quaker Care Worker, she had been one of the
first civilians to enter the Belsen Concentration Camp at the end of
the Second World War. Staff and students saw some shocking images
of the suffering Elizabeth encountered and were moved to hear
her describe the simple acts of compassion with which she tried to
alleviate the suffering.
Following the film Jake, Hazel and
Jo-Jo presented details that sadly
explained how the Second World War
did not bring an end to genocide. They
explained how, despite everything
that should have been learnt from
the Holocaust, there had been further
genocides, providing examples from
Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo, the Congo
and Darfur. The examples provided
were witness statements that tied into this year’s HMD theme that we should not ‘stand by’
and allow discrimination, persecution and genocide to go unnoticed and unchallenged.
At this point, a memorial service lead by the Year 12 students and the History Department,
gave a focus to the assembly, as the college lit a candle of hope to fight of the darkness
of genocide, before the College re-affirmed its commitment to the aims of the Holocaust
Memorial Day. To read out these seven statement Jordan, Matty and Tia were joined by Leah
Shelton, Connie Bielby and Ben Summers from Year 8, linking the HMD aims to those of the
College, to stop all forms of persecution. From the school 'bully', through to mass murder,
they all need to be noticed and challenged if we are to stop the future repeating the mistakes
of the past. This is part of the College's aims to build the citizens of tomorrow who are willing
and able to stand up and speak out andmake a difference in society. After all, as the assembly
ended, we were reminded of the words of Martin Luther King Jr. who said:
In the end, we will
remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Great praise should be given to the
students who worked so hard on this
assembly, giving up their lunchtime
and dealing with last minute
changes. 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.
Derek Davies Team Leader of History
The assembly was held after
lunch and, once everyone was
seated in the theatre, Jake
Mason from Year 12 welcomed
the students and introduced
a play which follows the impact of the
Holocaust on one Jewish family in Germany.
The main characters were played by Jordan
Axford, Matty Daniels and Tia Virdi of Year 9,
with support from Hazel Woodcock and Jo-Jo
Oakes Monger from Year 12.
This play follows the experience of Anita,
a 14 year old girl, who sees herself and her
family at first discriminated against, then
persecuted by the Nazis.
It ends upwithAnita, played by Jordan, being
the only person from her family left alive to
give testimony to what had happened.
