28 January 2021
Holocaust Memorial Day always takes place on 27 January – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp in WWII. This year’s theme was “Be the light in the darkness”. As we were not able to meet and pray together in person, we joined others in lighting candles in our school Chapel and in Shanley boarding house.
We remembered the six million Jews who were killed under Nazi persecution, as well as those who have died in subsequent genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur. As we lit the candles in school, our prayer and hope is that we can light up the world with our kind words and actions and we will work together to build a better world, free from oppression and persecution.
Head, Dr Whitehead, spoke about Holocaust Memorial Day at this week’s whole school assembly. He read a moving, and challenging, poem, Shema, by Auschwitz survivor and author Primo Levi, and asked students to think about truth, and about avoiding conspiracy theories, and prejudice against minority groups. He also asked students to be the light in the darkness as they are the future of our society.