JAGS commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day 2023
Ahead of last Friday’s Holocaust Memorial Day, a series of special lectures and assemblies were staged across JAGS to honour those who lost their lives in past atrocities.
In keeping with the theme set by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, pupils were encouraged to focus on the role Ordinary People in genocide.
It is Ordinary People who are persecuted. Ordinary People who are rescuers and witnesses. And, Ordinary People who are perpetrators and bystanders.
Events included:
- A Senior School Assembly marking Holocaust Memorial Day
- Virtual Tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Year 13)
- Holocaust Educational Trust Webcast (Year 12)
The webcast featured a moving interview with survivor Ruth Posner BEM who shared her personal experiences of persecution.
Below, pupils and Mrs Lewis (Head of Religious Studies who organised the event series), share their thoughts and experiences from the week:
“A nationwide USA survey of 11,000 people in 2020 showed a “worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge”.
• 63% did not know that 6,000,000 Jews were murdered
• over half thought the death toll was less than 2,000,000
• nearly half couldn’t name a single concentration/death camp or ghetto
• Only 90% believed the Holocaust actually happened; 7% were unsure and 3% denied the Holocaust.
• 11% believed Jews caused the Holocaust to happen, the statistic rising to 19% in New York – the state with the largest Jewish population.
“This trend clearly extends beyond the USA; David Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count (2021) pinpoints unconscious as well as conscious antisemitism in the UK. If the trend continues, Jews could yet again be in crisis. However, most importantly, crucial lessons from man’s industrialisation of murder – so recent, yet unparalleled throughout the entirety of world history – could be lost.
“This is my rationale for coordinating the current annual Holocaust events at JAGS that have replaced the previous programme of survivor visits that is no longer possible.
“An unaccredited but well-known letter from a survivor of Auschwitz expressed suspicion of education, evidenced by the school and university graduates, the engineers and the doctors who collaborated to ensure the efficient success of the ‘final solution to the Jewish question’. Education is hugely important – but only if it serves to make our pupils more humane.”
Mrs Lewis, Head of Religious Studies
“I found the webcast really touching and very informative. Hearing the testimony straight from Ruth herself added to the feeling of disbelief I felt. I didn’t predict feeling this way after learning about the Holocaust in school but realised that I wasn’t taking in what actually happened. I do genuinely feel very privileged to have been able to have got to experience it as I know that future generations won’t have that same opportunity.”
Chanelle, Year 12
“I found both the Senior School assembly and virtual tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau really valuable. I am very grateful to have had such a great opportunity to discuss and learn more about this horrific event. As someone from a Jewish heritage I really wanted to visit Auschwitz, but I hadn’t been able to due to COVID, so this was a great way of discovering it and I will definitely make sure to go in the future.”
Nora, Year 12
“During the Senior School assembly we watched footage of recorded statements from Holocaust survivors about the atrocities they endured under the Nazis, hearing how normal people suffered under their regime. It is important to remember individual stories to understand the extent of the brutality of the Holocaust and other genocides, rather than taking the easier route of thinking in statistics. This ties in with the 2023 Holocaust Memorial theme, Ordinary People. The assembly emphasised that ordinary people were involved in every aspect of the Holocaust: the victims, people who hid Jewish families, bystanders who allowed it to happen, and even some of the perpetrators.
“After watching the video of the survivors, Mrs Lewis read us a letter recounting how, during the Holocaust, the writer witnessed murders carried out by trained doctors, nurses and other highly educated people. The letter implored teachers to instill a sense of humanity in their students rather than just educating them, to prevent these horrors ever being repeated. It brought to light an aspect of the genocide that many had not previously considered: the participation of people whose professional duty was to help, not harm. Mrs Lewis also mentioned displays in the library and encouraged reading more books on the subject, survivor testimonies and novels like The Book Thief amongst them. Although an emotionally very difficult subject to dwell on, it is important to remember the Holocaust so that we can strive to eliminate prejudice and ensure that it never happens again.”
Alice, Year 12
