This week, we commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day with several thought-provoking activities across school.
In craft club, students used their creative skills to decorate jars in which to place memorial candles. The jars were decorated with stamps; to represent the countries from across the world involved in the Holocaust, and luggage tags; to represent the millions who lost their lives. Held in the library, our crafters couldn't resist a bit of reading too, where they engaged in texts to learn about genocide past and present.
Students in all year groups took part in a Holocaust-themed 'read and respond' in form time. Our younger students read about Miep Gies, the woman who supported Anne Frank and her family when they were in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam. Our older students read about Pastor Martin Niemöller a man who was initially an antisemitic Nazi supporter until his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for speaking out against Nazi control of churches. He later encouraged Germans to take responsibility for Nazi atrocities, showing that it is never too late to do the right thing.
Finally, many students had a unique opportunity to attend a live webcast interview with Eva Clarke, one of only three babies born in the Mauthausen concentration camp who survived the Holocaust. Her captivating story has helped those students to really understand the experiences that people endured.
Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. You can find out more here.