HOLOCAUST VICTIMS REMEMBERED AT COUNTY MEMORIALS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Holocaust victims remembered at county memorials

The atrocities of the Nazi Holocaust were remembered during memorial events in the city and county.

A service was held in Queen's Park, Loughborough, yesterday lunchtime to mark Holocaust Memorial Day – held each year to coincide with the day Auschwitz was liberated in 1945.

Councillor Diane Wise, mayor of Charnwood, led the town's 13th Holocaust Memorial Service at the bandstand, commemorating Jewish lives lost during the Second World War.

"As Mayor of Charnwood, I was honoured to be invited to lead this memorial service," she said. "Although Auschwitz camp was liberated nearly 70 years ago, the effects of what occurred are still felt by many.

"I am proud Loughborough continues to host this service, a poignant reminder of the human costs of war."

The day was also marked by an exhibition in Charnwood Museum, which will run until Sunday. Victims were also due to be remembered at an event at the University of Leicester last night. Communities Together: Build a Bridge was due to be held at the Fraser Noble Hall, on University Road, and was to include displays of work by schoolchildren, on tackling hatred.

Organised by Leicester City Council, Leicester Council of Faiths, the School Development Support Agency and the university's Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies, the evening's programme included presentations by young people who spoke about visiting Auschwitz.

Assistant city mayor Councillor Manjula Sood said: "It is inspiring to see the creativity of young people and the importance of tackling all kinds of discrimination."

MP PLEDGES TO COMBAT INTOLERANCE

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

MP pledges to combat intolerance

An MP has pledged his commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and to help combat prejudice and racism.

Sunday marks the 68th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

In the weeks leading up to it, the Holocaust Educational Trust has placed a Book of Commitment in the House of Commons.

Jon Ashworth, Labour MP for Leicester South, who has signed the book, said: "Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity to remember the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

"Having visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, I saw for myself the full extent of the industrialised nature of the Holocaust.

"I encourage all constituents to mark the day and to join the fight against prejudice and intolerance."

LESSONS FROM AUSCHWITZ

Euro 2012 kicks off today, jointly hosted by (and in) Poland and the Ukraine. There's been much media attention on the problems of neo-fascism and racism plaguing the Beautiful Game in those parts of the continent. Most of that attention has focused on a recent edition of BBC's Panorama entitled "Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate" (broadcast Monday 28 May). By coincidence, my friend and colleague Suleman Nagdi has sent me a copy of a reflective piece he has written on a recent visit he made to Auschwitz. I think it appropriate to publish it here (with his consent of course).

Suleman Nagdi MBE DL of the Federation of Muslim Organisations reflects on the experience of visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau with young people from across the West Midlands, as part of the Holocaust Educational Trust's Lessons from Auschwitz Project

History is a topic that fascinates many of us and we choose to pursue this interest through reading about history. However, as deeply enriching as the reading of history is, the experience of visiting the scene of where history has been made is an altogether different experience as it imbues us with a sense of feeling and perspective that we may not always gain when reading history, no matter how well it is written.

I have had the fortune and privilege of visiting many places where history has been made. In particular, my visit to Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years, was truly awe-inspiring. But nothing could prepare me for the mental shock that was my visit to Auschwitz. I recently undertook a journey which brought me face to face with one of the most appalling human tragedies of the 20th century. I was invited to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland where a great many innocent Jewish men, women and children were murdered in cold blood during World War II. It was a journey that was marked with an awakening – the realisation of the depth of hatred that can infiltrate the human psyche. It left me filled with hopelessness and despair for those who suffered so tragically, and this was quickly followed by an absolute and resolute determination to play as great a part as I can in all social movements which oppose such harrowing divisions between people.

As soon as I stepped inside Auschwitz I suffered a great sense of hopelessness and despair. I kept thinking and asking myself "can such a place of evil have existed?"  My mind felt as empty as the desolate spaces within Auschwitz which were once filled with the screams of human agony.  It was the most humbling of experiences.

Everything in Auschwitz from the barracks, chimneys, and the crematorium that were the apparatus used to exterminate people, were a stark reminder of what man can do to his fellow man. The most heart-breaking aspect of the Jewish murders was the failure to allow them dignity in death. The victims received no funeral rights, and thus they were even denied their humanity in death.

Human hair, spectacles, artificial limbs, suitcases, baby clothing, thousands of shoes as well as countless other possessions snatched away still remain there, never to be reunited with their owners. The senseless human evil left me with the most absolute sense of emptiness and memories of the sheer size of these death camps will never leave me. The tragedy of the Holocaust led the United Nations to declare ‘never again’. Despairingly, we have not lived up to this and Bosnia, Rwanda and Cambodia again witnessed the genocide of millions. The Holocaust Educational Trust organises trips to Poland to keep the memory of what happened in Auschwitz alive, so that it may never again be repeated. At a time when we are seeing sectarian divisions on the rise even here in Britain, this work becomes all the more vital. We need not look far to be reminded of how these divisions can separate us. In Bosnia, the mere Southern tip of Europe, genocide occurred when society fell apart. Angelina Jolie’s latest film, In the Land of Blood and Honey, portrays the horror and loss suffered by people when their societies break down. Reminders like these are necessary for us to recognise the value of our common humanity over and above our superficial divisions. Before my trip to Auschwitz, the history of World War Two was rooted in text books. However, this visit enabled me to be transported into that history; leaving me with a depth of feeling and perspective on it that was previously missing. Nothing could prepare me for the mental shock that was awaiting me. On my return to Leicester, my feelings of sadness at the tragedies of Auschwitz have left me more determined to continue the work I have been engaged in most of my life. Looking after the social welfare of the whole community in which I have lived; so that all those living together may live together in peace and harmony. My journey to Auschwitz has left me with an understanding of what can happen in the world when we no longer see each other as human beings.

HOLOCAUST HORRORS INSPIRE CHILDREN TO POETRY

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

Holocaust horrors inspire children to poetry

Children paid tribute to victims of genocide at a memorial event.

Speak Up, Speak Out, took place at the University of Leicester on Saturday to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, which took place on Friday.

Young people spoke about school trips to Auschwitz, before the launch of an anthology of poems about hatred and genocide, written by pupils in Leicester.

Manjula Sood, chairman of Leicester Council of Faiths and assistant mayor of Leicester City Council, said: "It is important to remember the lessons from history from the holocaust and other forms of genocide which have taken place since.

"Pupils from schools across Leicester have been taking part in work looking at tackling all kinds of hatred and discrimination, which is an especially important message in a multicultural city such as Leicester."

The event was run by Leicester City Council, Leicester Council of Faiths, the School Development Support Agency and the university's Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies.

For more information on Holocaust Memorial Day visit: www.hmd.org.uk

KELVINGROVE: MIXED MEDIA BOXES ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST

This is part of an extensive exhibit about Jews who arrived in Glasgow in the early and mid-twentieth century, fleeing persecution of different forms in different parts of Europe. The exhibit is contained in a section on the upper floor entitled "Conflict and Consequence".

Asked in 1990 by a distant relative to help compile a family tree, I found the task impossible, as so many family members had disappeared in the Holocaust.

Instead, I spent the next five years researching and making Holocaust artworks in memory of the millions who perished.

Testimony by Myer Lacome, artist 

Arbeit Macht Frei (1996)

Myer Lacome, Mixed media box

“Arbeit Macht Frei” – work leads to freedom – were the deceptive words on the main gate at Auschwitz Camp. Auschwitz, near Krakow in Poland, was the largest concentration camp and killing complex. 

The Burning of the Books, Germany, 10 May 1933 (1999)

Myer Lacome, Mixed media box

In 1933 the Nazis publicly burnt books by those Jewish and non-Jewish authors they disapproved of. Jews were forced out of their jobs. Some academics, artists and writers were able to flee. 

Kristallnacht, Germany, 9 November 1938 (1998)

Myer Lacome, Mixed media box

The night of broken glass – Kristallnacht. During this terrifying Nazi anti-Jewish pogrom – organised massacre – 267 synagogues, 1,000 prayer halls and 7,500 businesses were destroyed. Ninety-one Jews were killed and 26,000 arrested.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2011: UNTOLD STORIES

It's the city's main commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery this evening. This annual event is jointly sponsored by Leicester Council of Faiths, the Schools Development Support Agency (SDSA), the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Leicester and Leicester City Council. It's one of the most high-profile and prestigious occasions in the Council of Faiths calendar. There are at least 100 people attending this evening.

Cllr Manjula Sood (Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths) opens the meeting, welcoming distinguished guests. She's followed by Sir Peter Soulsby MP who makes introductory remarks. Next we hear from Anne Webb, Manager of the Lessons from Auschwitz project, run by the Holocaust Educational Trust. Then four students from Beauchamp College (in the photo above with Cllr Sood) who have been to Auschwitz, and two from English Martyrs RC School, who are preparing to go, address the meeting. The girls from Beauchamp change the tone of this event. For the first time, it feels to me like the balance well and truly tips  toward the young people involved, rather than them being here under polite sufferance of the older participants. They owned the stage. (I found out later, from my son Harry, that some of the Beauchamp girls had visited Bushloe High School in Wigston, which he attends, to talk to students there about HMD earlier this week.)

The Paul Winstone Memorial Essay prize is awarded by Paul's widow, Siobhan Begley, to Jake Edward, from English Martyrs RC School (who reads his essay to us).

We're treated to a musical interlude, that includes a performance by Joel Moore of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 6.

Professor Aubrey Nemwman speaks briefly to this year's theme, "Untold Stories". Rev. David Clarke proposes the vote of thanks. During the mixing and mingling that follows, I record some video interviews for the Council of Faiths YouTube channel.