Students commemorate victims of the Holocaust for Holocaust Memorial Day

HMD is held on 27 January as this marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Every year, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust provides a theme to reflect on. This year's theme is "Be the Light in the Dark", and encourages people to reflect on the darkness caused by genocide and the shadows this casts for survivors as well as the light that accompanies this in terms of individuals and groups resisting tyranny directly, and also people who step in to help others who are being persecuted.

On Monday our Sixth Form students had an assembly about the importance of HMD and they learnt more about those who were the 'light in the dark' for those being persecuted. One of the groups discussed was the student-led White Rose Movement in Munich which used leaflets and graffiti to increase resistance to the Nazis. There was also a focus on how this is relevant to our world today, where social media bypasses the traditional gate keepers who edit and monitor the information that we have access to within society. With the ability of anyone anywhere to put their point of view across as fact, the assembly discussed how we must be vigilant and critical of which voices we listen to.

To find out more about HMD visit their website: https://www.hmd.org.uk/