Holocaust survivors to share wartime experiences with students at memorial event

On Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 February 2019, students from Watford Boys’ Grammar, Abbotts Hill and Hemel Hempstead Schools (Hemel Hempstead), Kings Langley School and Challney Boys School (Luton), along with Watford’s West Herts College, will mark Holocaust Memorial Day at a remarkable event hosted by Watford Synagogue.

Students in years 9 to 13 will have the rare opportunity to hear moving testimony from a Holocaust survivor and participate in an educational workshop relating historical facts about the Holocaust to contemporary issues. Sessions will conclude with closing reflections from Watford Synagogue’s Rabbi Ephraim Levine and the lighting of a memorial candle.

The events are part of a bigger programme of Northwood Holocaust Memorial Day Events involving over 3,000 pupils representing more than 50 schools across Hertfordshire, the London Borough of Harrow and the London Borough of Hillingdon. The programme, whose theme this year is ‘Torn from home’, aims to educate students about the Nazi atrocities, make a connection between the Holocaust and subsequent genocides and invite students to consider their personal responsibility to promote tolerance in today’s world.

The Annual Ceremony in Northwood on Thursday 31 January will be attended by Holocaust survivor Professor Peter Lantos and Laura Marks OBE, Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.