HMD 2021

"There is always light if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it"

Amanda Gorman

Video of full poem

Every year on 27th January we mark Holocaust Memorial Day. The Holocaust, sometimes called The Shoah (Hebrew: השואה‎), was a genocide in which Nazi Germany systematically killed people during World War II. About six million Jews were killed, as well as five million others that the Nazis claimed were inferior (mostly Slavs, communists, Romani/Roma people, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses). These people were rounded up, put in ghettos, forced to work in concentration camps, and then killed in gas chambers. The 27th of January was chosen as it was the date that the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz (pictured above), was liberated in 1945.

This year the theme of Holocaust Memorial Day is 'Be the Light in the Darkness' - we are all asked to challenge discrimination where ever it occurs and educate others about genocide and the steps that lead to it.

National Holocaust Memorial ceremony

Watch the highlights of the National Holocaust Memorial ceremony

How do I find out more about the Holocaust?

A good place to start is the Simple Wikipedia page which explains the Holocaust in clear English. The Holocaust Education Trust has also produced some home learning packs which you might wish to follow as a family

How do I get involved?

We are running a competition for you to participate in. We are asking you to produce a piece of work, which can be a poster, a poem, artwork, a piece of writing or a short video which is on the theme of 'Be the Light in the Darkness'. You can submit your work to your form tutor who will make sure it is entered. The competition closes at the end of this half term (12th February) and there will be a prize of a £10 book token for the three best entries.

Can I Look at the Assemblies again?

All the assemblies will be made available after Wednesday 27th.

Youtube videos on the Holocaust

A short BBC film explaining the Srebrenica massacre

A longer film with Holocaust survivor and judge Theodor Meuron about how we can prevent genocide

This short cartoon film explains the White Rose resistance in Nazi Germany

A film in French explaining the Resistance in France

St Edmund's visit to Poland - 2015

In 2015, 6th Form History students from St. Edmund's visited the Polish city of Kraków and the nearby Auschwitz concentration camp. They learnt about the Holocaust and the Jewish life in pre-war Poland that was destroyed by the Nazi genocide. The students took part in a memorial ceremony at the camp and met a Holocaust survivor.

Yad VASHEM - a song about the holocaust

This song also features the singing of Miss Ciancimino who some of you might remember from previous years.