HMD 2022: ONE DAY The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is One Day. Holocaust Memorial Day is One Day, 27 January, that we put aside to come together to remember, to learn about the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, in the hope that there may be One Day in the future with no genocide. We learn more about the past, we empathise with others today, and we take action for a better future.
ONE DAY IS A SNAPSHOT One Day is just a snapshot in time and therefore cannot give the full picture, the context, the background that is needed, but it can help bring a piece of the full picture to life. The age or gender of the victim, or their geographical location ensured that no One Day during the genocide was typical. The same date would be experienced very differently by Jews hiding in France, Jews incarcerated in Auschwitz, Jews awaiting their fate in Hungary, for example. Like those who suffered for days, weeks, months, years, focusing on just One Day is a starting point, and a way to learn more about what happened during the Holocaust and the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
"One day Gretl, my school friend... greeted
me with an embrace. The next day she ran across the road and turned her head away so as not to acknowledge me." Iby Knill, survivor of the Holocaust
The burning of Um Ziefa, village in Darfur, Sudan © Brian Steidle
ONE DAY WHEN LIFE CHANGED Survivors of the Holocaust and of genocide often talk about the One Day when everything changed, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for better. For Faiza, a lawyer in Sudan, there was a defining day. Following a civil war in 2003, which left millions of people displaced, the Sudanese government supported Arab militia who destroyed hundreds of villages, and murdered thousands of people. When international media began to highlight the genocide in Darfur, the regime became more aggressive and targeted lawyers and researchers. Faiza, who regularly travelled to the displaced persons camps in Darfur to help the women there, was targeted by the Sudanese Government for supporting victims of the genocide. Faiza was threatened and physically abused. One day in 2007, members of the government militia came to her office and showed her photographs they had taken of her daughters and threatened to harm them. Fazia and her four children fled their family home in the night and boarded a plane to the UK using an old holiday visa. Fearing that travelling together would arouse suspicion, her husband reluctantly decided to remain in Sudan. It was four years until they would meet again.
"One Day I decided to leave my country. It was a hard decision, but there was no
other way. I left my home, my friends, my people; I left all my belongings. There is a book on a table near my bed open to page 49 waiting for me." Faiza, Sudanese lawyer. Faiza’s name and image have been changed to protect her identity.
The entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau © Bill Hunt
ONE DAY IN THE FUTURE Those who were targeted and persecuted held out for the One Day in the future when all their suffering would be over, hoping they would “all see the day of liberation” (Elie Wiesel, Night). Elie was 15 when German troops took over Sighet, Romania. The entire Jewish population of Sighet was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. At Birkenau Eile was separated from his mother and sisters. This was the last time he ever saw them. Elie lied about his age, claiming to be 18 to avoid being selected for extermination. As the Russian army advanced through Poland, the Germans evacuated Auschwitz. Elie and his father marched for miles on foot before being transported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, where his father died. Elie was liberated from Buchenwald on 11 April 1945. For a decade Elie kept silent about his experiences in the concentration camps, until a journalist persuaded him to write. The result was Night, his acclaimed memoir, published in 1958 and later translated into over 30 languages. As a boy Elie survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps. As an adult, he dedicated himself to commemorating the Holocaust and to ensuring its lessons were learnt. On Holocaust Memorial Day we learn from genocide for a purpose – to build a better future. When we look ahead to ‘one day with no genocide’, what do we need to do today to achieve this? We can use this theme to motivate us to speak out when we see injustices, prejudices and identity-based violence – for a better future.
"The survivors had every reason
to despair of society; they did not.
They opted to work for humankind, not against it."
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor
ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) is the national charity supporting Holocaust refugees and survivors living in Great Britain, primarily providing social, welfare and care services. The AJR is committed to the education of future generations about the Holocaust and is the UK’s largest dedicated funder of programmes and projects which promote teaching and learning about the Holocaust. About 70,000 refugees, including approx. 10,000 children on the Kindertransport, arrived in Great Britain from Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s. Founded in 1941 by Jewish refugees from Central Europe, the AJR today extends membership to anyone who fled a Nazi-occupied country as a Jewish refugee or who arrived in Great Britain as a Holocaust survivor, and their relatives including spouses, children and grandchildren.
80 TREES FOR 80 YEARS July 2021 marked the 80th anniversary of the AJR. To commemorate this milestone the AJR launched a special campaign, 80 Trees for 80 Years, which will see 80 native oak trees planted around Britain in honour of the people and places that symbolise the enormous contribution made to every walk of British life by refugees who escaped from Nazi Europe. Ashford is honoured to have been selected as one of these 80 sites with its tree being planted in Woodchurch, where Jewish refugee children were generously welcomed in 1939.
A " s well as helping to mark the heritage of many of our members and places of historic interest
associated with them, the planting of these trees will enable the AJR to give back to and create a living legacy within the country that became their home." AJR CEO, Michael Newman
"The tree is a poignant reminder of the
contribution that the Jewish refugees have made to
British society and celebrates 80 years of the AJR. We at Ashford Borough Council feel most humbled to be invited to participate in this significant
commemoration and we thank our tree sponsor, Margot Fraser for her kind generosity." The Mayor of Ashford, Cllr Callum Knowles
A group of Jewish teenagers, who came to England on the Kindertransport, at Great Engeham Farm in Woodchurch © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Mimi Ormond
Woodchurch’s role in the Kindertransport Scheme
Kindertransport Camp at Great Engeham Farm © Woodchurch Village Life Museum
During the economic depression of the 1930s the Nazi party blamed Jewish people for Germany’s problems. Inspired by Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic ideology, the Nazi party presented the Jews as the source of a variety of political, social and economic problems facing the German people. From 1933-1938 the Nazi party ordered anti-Jewish boycotts and established anti-Jewish legislation. Nazi authorities wreaked havoc on Jewish life. They burned synagogues, vandalised Jewish owned businesses, and damaged Jewish homes and cemeteries. Soon many Jews concluded that there was no future for them in Nazi Germany. As a result, the British government eased immigration restrictions for certain categories of Jewish refugees. The British authorities allowed unaccompanied minors under the age of 17 to enter Great Britain from Germany and German-annexed territories, this became known as Kindertransport (children’s transport). In the 1930s, 70,000 refugees, including approximately 10,000 children on the Kindertransport arrived in Great Britain from Nazi-occupied Europe. In June 1939, after an advertisement in the London Times, Great Engeham Farm in Woodchurch was established for housing Jewish refugee children. The farm was owned by Isidore Kerma, a Jewish lawyer, who organised the campsite for the Kindertransport children. Combining productive agriculture training with education, Great Engeham Farm gave many young Jewish refugees a purpose and occupation. Some 300-350 children aged 13-16 passed through the camp at Great Engeham Farm before moving to Devon in November 1939, when Kent was designated off-limits to enemy aliens. After the war many children from the Kindertransport scheme became British citizens, or emigrated to Israel, America, Canada, and Australia. Most would never see their parents again, who were murdered during the Holocaust.
"In the end we had 300 children there... and they would have undoubtedly died if they hadn't been able to be there... there was nowhere else for them to go."
Fred Dunstan (formerly Fritz Deutsch), camp leader at Great Engeham Farm.