Holocaust memorial day
As we move further away in time, surely it’s more important than ever that we remember the victims of the Holoaust, and redouble our resolve that it doesn’t ever happen again.
This year’s act of remembrance for all the victims of the Holocaust sticks in my mind: young people grouped on the steps of the Clarendon Building in Oxford in the gathering darkness of a January night, quietly reading out, not together or in unison but in their own time and at their own pace, the names of those who died from a particular village in Poland, sometimes five or ten names together with the same surname.
Jo’s in Israel at the moment; today she’s visiting Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Jewish victims in Jerusalem.
Also today, we learn that an advisory group to the Prime Minister is calling on him to ditch the day, as it is “offensive to Muslims”.
I was glad to see that it wasn’t just me that smelt the unmistakeable whiff of anti-semitism in this.
At Yad Vashem, we went to just a few of the memorials and tributes, one of which was the Children’s Memorial. Of the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, one and half million were children. The memorial is so moving and powerful - it’s underground, dark and in two stages. The first is an exhibition of photos of some of the children who died by the entrance - you then walk through a very dark passage to the main part of the memorial which is hard to describe. It’s pitch black. Five candles are on a stand in the centre and then, through and clever and very effective use of mirrors, are reflected to create the belief that you are standing in the biggest room in the world with stars all around. You ask yourself if this is what 1.5 million looks like. You can’t see your friends, you are all alone with your thoughts, the tiny flames and the voices in the background, reading out the names, ages and countries of origin of all the children who are known to have been murdered by the Nazis.
Why HMD in the UK? Because the Holocaust was diferent to everything else - and needs to be recognised for what it was. Yes, we should recognise and comemorate (sp?) all acts of genocide and mass murder and I’m in favour of a day to do that. But don’t try and say that the Holocaust is the same, it really wasn’t.
Many councils/schools/local groups are already planning their commemorations for Holocaust Memorial Day 2007.
http://www.hmd.org.uk
(Hope you don’t mind the shameless plug Antonia)
I thought you might like to know that in time for Holocaust Memorial day we have published a unit of learning on the Holocaust on OpenLearn, The Open University’s website that makes educational materials from our courses available free of charge to anyone online.
The unit can be found at: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2091
It might be of particular interest to students and teachers, who can study the material online and even download it, amend it and connect with other learners using our discussion forums, instant messaging and video conferencing.