A timely presentation in each year groups’ assembly took place this week, as students were reminded of the history of the Holocaust.
The theme this year is ‘the Fragility of Freedom’. Our young people were asked to consider that every genocide has involved people being persecuted and having their freedom restricted and removed, before they were murdered.
Marking this weekend’s Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January), the young people learnt some of the history surrounding why the event is held each year. The date commemorates the anniversary of when Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest death camp was liberated close to the end of the Second World War.
It is an international event, where we remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust alongside the millions of people murdered by the Nazis as part of their persecution of other groups. It is also a where we remember more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
Head of History Mark Hernon said, “Our thoughts this year centre on how our world often feels fragile and vulnerable and we cannot be complacent. Even in the UK prejudice and the language of hatred must be challenged by us all.”
The last words of the presentation that was shared with students were from former South African President, Nelson Mandela. “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedoms of others”.
