Holocaust Memorial Day
Friday January 27th 2012 is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day for everyone to remember and to learn lessons about the Holocaust, Nazi persecution, Auschwitz and the resulting genocides. It is also a day to think about what we can learn from past atrocities and try to aim for a safer, more tolerant and better future.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is asking that you ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’, consider what you see and hear around you, and use your voice to Speak Up against hatred and discrimination.
Rye Hills School marked Holocaust Memorial Day with a series of assemblies, one for each House group.
Pupils were given a presentation that told the story from the perspective of a small pair of shoes. The shoes symbolized the forced journey a small unknown Jewish child aged 3 or 4 years old taken from his home to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. The shoes were one of thousands of pairs that had been found in the ‘Kanada’ barracks at Auschwitz. One and a half million children died in the Holocaust and an estimated two hundred and twenty thousand children died at Auschwitz at the hands of the Nazis. Three pupils had prepared readings and everyone took part in a short silence to remember and reflect.
Pupils were also given a presentation about Amnesty International, a charity whose purpose is to ‘protect individuals wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied’.
Amnesty International:
Holocaust Memorial Day:
