Remembering the Holocaust
The school community commemorated the Holocaust with a moving ceremony at the JW3 and a poignant assembly delivered by our Sixth Formers.
On Friday 25th January, a handful of pupils were invited to be part of the JW3 Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration. There were many participants, including Holocaust Survivor Susan Pollack, Lord Eric Pickles, Mike Freer MP, Mark Regev, the Israeli Ambassador and the Mayor of Camden, with messages from Sadiq Khan and the Chief Rabbi alongside readings by Helen Lederer from Primo Levi and Eli Weisel. There was also haunting cello music played by South Hampstead alumna, Gemma Rosefield. Perhaps the most moving and memorable speech was an impassioned account of her family’s story given by Dame Margaret Hodge, who also spoke with great bravery and honesty of the wave of anti-semitism that has been directed towards her over the last year. The ceremony ended with six candles being lit by survivors to remember the 6 million who did not survive. The girls came away deeply moved, and determined not to forget the Holocaust and the lessons that we still need to learn from it.
The following Monday, the Senior School remembered the Holocaust in assembly. Two of our Sixth Formers told us powerful, personal stories of their own families. Emma paid tribute to her grandfather who, together with the rest of the Jewish community in his home town of Kovna in Lithuania, was herded into their synagogue which was set alight. Abi shared a moving story of her grandfather, one of the Kindertransport, who arrived in Liverpool Street Station from Berlin in January 1939, aged just 11, speaking not a word of English, dependent on strangers for everything. Abi showed us the last letter he received from his parents, in January 1940, before all communication ceased. His Polish parents are believed to have been sent to Auschwitz and to have died there. Her grandfather went on to serve in the British Army, become a British citizen, settling in England and giving back to the country that he felt had given him so much.
History Teacher, Mrs Boyarsky, commented: “We were incredibly proud of Abi and Emma for standing up and telling us their stories, making it so much easier for us to understand the impact of the Holocaust. When we hear numbers such as six million it is very hard to think what that really means to the individuals and families involved. They also made us extremely grateful for the freedom we have in Britain today as well as thankful once again for the creativity, energy, joy and love of life that over the years the refugees, immigrants and visitors who have been part of the South Hampstead community have shared with us. Their assembly has reminded us that we must always remember what happened in the past and try to learn lessons from it – not to allow the Holocaust to be forgotten, not to seek differences in others, but to look for similarities and connections, and not to stand by when others show ignorance, discrimination and unkindness, but to be brave enough to stand up and be counted.”