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Remembering The Holocaust
This week, our pupils have been commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place each year on 27 January and is organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
On this day thousands of people across the UK come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future with the 27 January marked as the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.
Churcher’s Fourth Year pupils joined 800 other schools around the country to hear Holocaust survivor, Eve Kugler, who turned 90 this month, share her testimony. This was an incredible opportunity for our pupils to hear, first hand, what happened to Eve and her family, and provided an important opportunity to reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust and how we can all act to ensure that anti-Semitism and racism of any kind, has no place in our communities and societies. You can find out about Eve’s life story by clicking the link below.
Fourth Year pupil, Jago said: “Eve’s truly incredible story has given me so much more depth in my knowledge of the Holocaust. It has given me an emotional connection to the story of the people in the Holocaust that no textbook could ever provide. Eve’s strength, courage and perseverance showed us what attitude you needed to survive during such terrible times. It was such a powerful testimony, and I can say that I have been inspired by her courage and optimism.”
In February 2020, Churcher’s College was honoured to welcome Mala Tribich MBE, to share the testimony of a survivor, a child at the time, almost 75 years after Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated. Mala is now among the last people able to give a first-person account of what she and others suffered, and what was done to them. You can read about her visit here and listen to the full audio of her talk below.
Also during the Spring Term of 2020, a group of Upper School pupils and Sixth Form students from Churcher's College came together to perform the Senior Play, The Diary of Anne Frank. Staged over several nights, the play was a thoughtful and intimate look at the experiences of the Frank family as they hid in an annex during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam.
You can read more and see the photos by clicking below.
Watch History teacher Miss Swindells recite 'The Butterfly', a beautiful and haunting poem that uses the image of a butterfly to symbolize the loss of freedom. This poem was written by Pavel Friedmann, at Theresienstadt concentration camp on 4 June 1942. On September 29, 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz where he died.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust will this year be running an online service of commemoration to mark the day – details can be found on their website.
Churcher's College, a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 10813349 and registered charity number 1173833
