Today, Thursday 27th January, is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day when we reflect on the scars that genocide has left on this world and remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside millions of other peoples killed under Nazi persecution, and in other genocides that have occurred in the 20th and 21st centuries including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

We honour the survivors of these events as well as remember the dead, and many of our students will light a candle this evening at 8pm as they join in with the ‘Light the Darkness’ act of remembrance. To mark this day in school, Mrs Bexon will lead an assembly of reflection on Monday and students from every form have created a flame as an act of commemoration.

When asked to explain why they were creating the flames, members of IIIT had this to say:

“We are making a flame for Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the millions of people who died. Our flame represents how difference and equality are a good thing. We made each part different to symbolise this and added in words we thought were opposites of the things that happened, such as ‘hope’ and ‘peace’.”

For students who want to read some of the stories from the Holocaust, the Library has also put together a display of books that will enable our students to engage with the past: The Diary of a Young Girl, The Choice, Night, Maus, and East West Street.

We commemorate these events so that the stories of these people will not be forgotten and so that we can learn from them and create a better future. To find out more for yourself please visit the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Sarah Lawrence, Librarian