Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration Activities in the East of England

There were a number of events in the East of England region to commemorate this important occasion.

In Cambridge on 26th January, there was the Launch of the exhibition "Polish Heroes; those who saved Jews during the Holocaust" from the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, at the Guildhall, Market Square, Cambridge. This is an inspiring exhibition about Polish people who have received recognition by Yad Vashem. They are among the "Righteous Among Nations" and are commemorated in the Jerusalem museum.

Cambridge City Council's Holocaust Memorial Day event took place on 27^th January.

This year's national theme was Legacy of Hope. Holocaust survivors - both victims and rescuers - spoke movingly of pain and loss, survival and despair and their wish for a legacy of hope. 

The evening began with an address from the Mayor of Cambridge and ended with the usual moving candle-lighting ceremony.

The focus of HMD is memory and the lessons from the Shoah. This year the Cambridge community welcomed a distinguished recipient of the Yad Vashem Righteous Among Nations Award (given to non-Jews who saved Jewa during the Holocaust). We will hear the story of Mr Jozef Marionuk (pictured, right) and how his family helped saved a group of desperate Jews by hiding them in their farmhouse in rural Poland.

The programme also included a new talk by Eva Clarke, reflections on a visit to Auschwitz by two local school students, a performance by the Beth Shalom Jewish choir, Kol Echad, an original dance piece based on Schindler's List and more.

Also on the morning of 27 Jan the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse screened the film "The Power of Good" and winner of the 2002 International Emmy Award for Best Foreign documentary.

The film shows how, on the wave of the Nazi invasion and threats of war,  Nicholas Winton, a young British businessman,  managed to take 669 mostly Jewish children, out of Czechoslovakia to England.  By helping to save their lives he showed how one person can really make a difference and inspire hope in a troubled world.

HMD, Norwich 27 January

Dr. John Clark and Dr. Jeannette Fine, as representatives of the Jewish community, attended a HMD event at Norfolk County Hall in Norwich and performed some readings. They were invited by the county hall chaplain, the Rev. Christine Copley, to a lunchtime service for county employees.

There were 36 people there including the chief executive and the Chairman of the County Council. The chaplain did some readings, Jeannette sang and read the Shema, John read from Elie Wiesel and read the Kaddish and an Imam gave a very supportive sermon, a prepared reading and read from the Haditha, the opening of the Koran in a very moving service.

At the lunch afterwards in the Chairman’s office, they were shown some documents by a Kindertransport survivor, who had managed to track down what happened to his parents. John was shown a three page typed document, in German, which was the summons to his mother to present herself for transport to Theresienstadt. His German is not the world’s greatest, and it was whisked off before he could read it properly.

However, Dr. Clark said, ”I did not get a chance to ask how he came into possession of the document, but by goodness it made my blood run cold. Not the least chilling aspect of it was that the Nazis had the chutzpah to label the document as being from the Office of Jewish Culture (rough translation).”