Visiting Auschwitz p9
Foundation Stones p4
Events p11
Liberation of Belsen p13
Holocaust Memorial Day The awareness raising newspaper written by young people for our local community
January 2020
“Stand Together!”
Survivors of the Holocaust and genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda speak to local school pupils at Hampton School recently
Welcome to our newspaper. Written by local young people, we hope that it will help raise awareness in our local community of the upcoming Holocaust Memorial Day. Inside you’ll read pieces written by students from local schools who are standing together to lead the forthcoming commemoration.
Researching a local connection to the Holocaust p10
Whilst a range of events is planned across our community in January, students have already been learning about the Holocaust and other genocides. More than a hundred students recently came together to hear the testimony of Zigi Shipper, a Holocaust survivor, Kemal Pervanic, who survived the genocide in Bosnia & Sophie Masereka, a survivor of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwan-
Reflecting through art, poetry and animation project p2-5
da. “It was troubling to hear the horrific experiences of Zigi, Kemal and Sophie...but it made me think that we all have to act to prevent events like the Holocaust from ever happening
again.” said Luke, a Year 9 who attended the event. Continued on p2-5
A Cambodia genocide survivor visits Turing House p7
2 Genocide Awareness Day: Special report had a good upbringing in their respective towns, surrounded by family and Recently, the students attending Genneighbours. Kemal had many friends ocide Awareness Day at Hampton from diverse backgrounds and Sophie heard three moving stories from three enjoyed singing at church with her amazing survivors, but what we couldfriends. They were ordinary children, n’t help but think about was how norliving ordinary lives, free of thoughts mal their lives were before the genoof war and murder. cides, and how it could have been When chaos and war broke out, all anyone in their positions. three survivors talked about how they Sophie, Zigi and Kemal all experienced tried to live like they had before, with the horrors of genocide for different Sophie remaining at home in her vilreasons, and all were brought up in lage, Zigi refusing to go into hiding and different areas with different cultures Kemal refusing to become a soldier. but they were just ordinary people. All “Why should we [have thought] we three speakers had a good upbringing, were going to die?” Zigi recalls. “We with a loving family and a network of were just people.” friends. Although Zigi’s parents diYet their lives were turned upside vorced when he was three, he lived well with his grandparents in an afflu- down. Zigi was forced into a ghetto and then to Auschwitz. Kemal spoke of the horrors of the Omarska concentration camp where he was interrogated by his teacher! Sophie witnessed the horrific murder of some of her family and cam close to death More than a hundred and thirty students heard the testi- many times.
“It Could Have Been Anyone”
mony of Zigi, Sophie and Kemal at Hampton School.
They were ordinary people in terrible ent part of Poland. He still recalls with times. Anyone could have been in Soamazement that fact that he had his phie, Kemal or Zigi’s position. own bedroom! Kemal and Sophie both The Genocide Awareness Day reports have been collaboratively written by: Joshua & Harry, Grey Court School Isabella & Scarlett, Lady Eleanor Holles School Isobel & Erin, St Richard Reynolds Catholic College Kristian, Kai, Morgan, Hampton High Jack, Luke & Anton, Turing House School Anya & Lilly, Christ’s School Emily & Millie, Tolworth Girls’ School
“Do note hate, hate will ruin your life” Holocaust survivor Zigi Shipper shares his experiences. A survivor of the Holocaust, Zigi Shipper, visits schools to teach young people about genocide. Today his discussed his experiences. Q: Have you ever been back to visit Poland since the Holocaust? A: I never wanted to go back to Poland. I never even wanted to go to AuschwitzBirkenau but when my daughters grew up they insisted. They wanted to see where I had been. It brought back some terrible memories. Q: How did you adapt to normal life after your experiences? A: The first six months were hell for me. But soon I met some other young survivors who became my family. We still see each other every weekend. Q: Why do you think it is important to educate younger generations about genocide? A: What is happening in the world today is just unbelievable. The young people are the future. I always say one thing to them: ‘Do not hate. Hate will ruin your life.’ Zigi is an inspiration to all of us. He has such passion for his work and believes that the younger generation have so much power and potential to be good. He always says ‘Do not hate, hate will ruin your life.’ This is something that the whole world can learn from and can inspire us to always choose love, not hate.
3 Reflecting through art, animation & poetry “I think that it is important to make other people aware of what the survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides went through. If our words and drawings help others in our community think about the experiences of Zigi, Kemal and Sophie then that is a good thing.” This is how one of the Year 9 students hopes their work will impact our local community as Holocaust Memorial Day ap-
Art With the help of expert Holocaust art educator Caroline Slifkin, the students created pieces that summarised their thoughts on what they had heard about the Holocaust and other genocides.
proaches. After hearing the testimony of Zigi Shipper, Kemal Pervanic and Sophie Masereka the students reflected on what they had heard in various workshops. They responded through art, animation, poetry and exhibition building.
4 Reflecting through art, animation, poetry... Animation
The students took part in an animation workshop to reflect on what they had heard. The outcome was a creation that animated themes of resistance, hate speech, empathy, division, discrimination, community, isolation and standing together.
Poetry The performance poet, Kat Francois, ran a workshop with a group of the students. The young poets created pieces based on the testimony that they had heard.
Raising awareness through posters Raising awareness in our local community of the Holocaust and other genocides was a key part of the work of the students. They created posters that told the stories of Zigi, Kemal and Sophie to educate others.
Journalism Budding journalists used the power of the pen to help raise awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides. The copy that they produced can be read in the opening pages of this newspaper! The reports that you’re reading now were created with the help of Ms Bartholomew from Hampton School’s English Department.
Standing Together Sunny and Sophie created pieces of art that reflected on the experiences of Zigi (left) and Sophie (right). By thinking about the events that the survivors went through the artists recognise the need to ‘Stand Together’ with all those who suffer discrimination.
5 ...and awareness raising posters
The posters were collaboratively created by Abdul , Louis, Max, Archie, Ruby, Eli, Jared, Tom, Ashley, Anya, Kiara, Humma, Ben, Shigda, Loza, Millie, Sheral, Sapna, Martyna, Adam, Charlotte, Phea, Annabel, Sienna, Katherine, Tom, Grace, Liv, Simran, Lucia, Brianna, Stanley and Klay. The students come from Christ’s School, Grey Court School, St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, Turing House School, Hampton High, Lady Eleanor Holles School, Reach Academy and Tolworth Girls’ School.
Foundation Stones A new Holocaust memorial is scheduled to be built right next to the Houses of Parliament. If the memorial gets the go ahead the foundations will include memorial stones sent in by the public. As part of a workshop pupils decorated stones with drawings, symbols and messages . They used the testimony of Zigi, Kemal and Sophie as inspiration. The stones will be sent to the new memorial for inclusion in its foundations.
6 Researching those deported to Auschwitz To help our community understand more about Auschwitz-Birkenau students from several schools around the local area have been researching the lives of individuals deported there during World War Two. Young people from Turing House School, Orleans Park School, Teddington School and Hampton School have collaborated on a project to bring together the biographies of seventy five individuals who were deported to Auschwitz. The students got to know more
Elisabeth from Orleans Park School researched Itzhak Katznelson. He was a teacher & poet. Itzhak was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto and, after his wife and two sons were murdered, Itzhak took part in the Ghetto uprising. In April 1944 Itzhak and his remaining son were deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered on May 1st 1944.
about the composers, pets, footballers, actors, directors, men, women and children who's lives were cruelly destroyed by the Nazi regime. 'Before the project all I knew about Auschwitz were the statistics. I didn't know anything about the people who were sent there.' said Jack from Turing House School. 'Now I know something about a few of those who perished. They came from all over Europe and had friends, families, hopes and dreams like the rest of us. Knowing
One of the research team from Teddington School found out about Marcel Nadjari. He was born in Greece in 1917 & was a solider from 1937-40. Deported to Auschwitz in 1944, Marcel worked as part of the Sonderkommando in Krematorium III. Assuming that he would die, he wrote a description of the camp & buried it so that the world would know. Marcel survived.
What do young people know about Auschwitz?
Poland, three out of ten respondents thought it was in Germany, Austria or elsewhere.
Most people have heard of Auschwitzthe most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps. However, a recent survey of young people carried out by Tom, a Yr 10 pupil at Hampton School showed that most lack an in-depth knowledge of the history of the terrible camp.
We asked who the first people to be murdered by gas in Auschwitz were. Less than one in ten got the right answer. Most people believed that it was Jewish men, women and children. However, the first group of people murdered in early September 1941 by gas in Auschwitz was 600 Soviet POWs which were brought from outside the camp as well as 250 Polish prisoners selected by
Whilst 73% of young people knew that Auschwitz was located in Nazi occupied
Nazi-occupied Poland 73%
Maggie from Turing House School discovered the life of Alice Licht was born in Berlin in July 1916. She had always wanted to study medicine but was not allowed to by the Nazis because she was Jewish. She was sent to Theresienstadt and then Auschwitz. Alice was able to escape from the Groß-Rosen camp in January 1945.
SS doctors from the camp infirmary. Very few of the 300 respondents to our survey knew that the largest group of Jews who were deported to AuschwitzBirkenau actually came from Hungary. Finally, in our survey we asked whether the world knew about AuschwitzBirkenau at the time. Only 23% thought that countries like Britain had any knowledge of what was happening.
No 77%
Where was Auschwitz located?
Germany, Austria or elsewhere 26%
more about Auschwitz-Birkenau makes me realised even more the importance of remembering the people who were sent there.' The students have been posting the pictures and biographies of the individuals they researched on Twitter since before Christmas where they have been viewed thousands of times. At the time of writing the profiles have been seen by more than 100,000 people. You can learn about those they researched on Twitter @genocide8020.
Yes 23%
Historical note: The existence of Auschwitz-Birkenau was well known during the war. Escaped prisoners sent information about the camp as early as 1941. Did the world know about Auschwitz during the Second World War?
7 Looking for the boys of Lebanon Park The Holocaust may seem something that happened a long time ago and in a far off place. Nevertheless, three local pupils have discovered a previously untold chapter of history that links Twickenham directly to the events of the Holocaust.
caust Library – who have the biggest collection of records about the Kindertransport in the country. A few days later they sent the research team a letter in reply. It said that the details we had supplied matched those of a boy called Gunter Ruf who was born in the town of Herne in Germany. Why did Gunter have to flee from Herne? To find out we contacted local historians in the town where George and his family lived in Germany.
The Wiener Holocaust also told us that the last piece of information they had on Gunter suggested that he had emigrated to the USA. So that was where we turned our search to next. We emailed lots of Holocaust museums in the The Kinderhostel was located in Lebanon Park, States and also the Kindertransport AssociaTwickenahm Photo: Andy Lawrence tion which is based in New York. The research team heard The pupils’ research enquiry started nothing for more than a when they came across a reference to a fortnight…but then we ‘Kinderhostel’ in Lebanon Park. Oscar, received an email. It read: Felix and Josh had never heard of the ‘Kinderhostel’ and couldn’t find any reference to it in the books in their school or local history library. No one, not even the university historians that they contacted, knew about the house or the people who lived there.
contacted by Helen Levy. Ms Levy’s step -mother, Margot Brauer, had worked at the house in Lebanon Park, looking after the boys who lived there. Margot had herself escaped from Nazi Germany in 1938, aged eighteen. Her parents styed in Germany and hid Jews throughout the war and saved them from deportation and murder. Helen remembered that her stepmother stayed in touch with some of the boys of Lebanon Park and collected visiting one in particular, Freddie Popper. Freddie’s son, Michael, had become a prominent dancer, choreographer and artist, and after Oscar, Felix and Josh found Michael’s agent they were soon in touch with him. Michael kindly told them about his father’s life before, during and after his time in Twickenham. Oscar, Felix and Josh are now looking forward to trying to find out more about the other boys who lived in Lebanon Park hostel. They plan to write up their research into a booklet which they would like to place in local libraries. Josh commented “We think that it is important to know about the story of the boys of Lebanon Park because it has
“My name is George Ruf (Gunter in Germany) and I was born in Herne, Germany on the 7th of February 1929. So, I think that I am the “boy” that you are looking for. While I was in Their first breakthrough came when the hostel in Lebanon they found a database that mentioned Park, I went to school first the Kinderhostel in Lebanon Park. Against the address there was an entry at St Mary’s Primary with some details about a boy who lived School in Twickenham and at the house. There was no name but a from there to Orleans date of birth and the date when the boy School from 1939 to 1943 .” came to Britain from Germany. It said th that the boy was born on 7 February George went on to say The boys of Lebanon Park Photo: George Ruf 1929 and came to Britain on that he would be willing to answer our questions and From that Oscar, Felix and Josh could never been told before. More than that work out that the boy probably arrived to tell us all about his life before, during we think that it is important because it and after he came to Twickenham in in Britain as part of the shows that far from being something ‘Kindertransport’. This was term given to 1939. that happened a long time ago and far the rescue of thousands of Jewish chilThe researchers also received help from away the Holocaust came closer to us all dren whose lives were in danger in Nazi others. They put an appeal for inforthan we all think.” Germany. Armed with that information mation in the Association of Jewish Refwe wrote a letter to the Wiener Holougees ‘newsletter. From that they were
8 The boys of Lebanon Park: George & Freddy George Ruf lived in an apartment with his family on Bahnhofstrasse in Herne, Germany. He had two brothers and a sister. His parents worked in a furniture shop where he would go after school to
name to George as his real name Gunter, sounded ‘too German’. Eventually ten boys were brought to this house. He enjoyed life there, always expecting his family to join him there soon. He stayed in a room with two other boys and was looked after by Matron Kroner, which was the first time he had porridge and tea with milk.
time, after 47 years. Last year George and his wife took their youngest daughter to see the house at Lebanon Park. Freddy Popper was born in June 1928 in Vienna. He was born into a middleclass family that had a rich musical herit-
He left St. Mary’s to go to Orleans Park secondary school next door which he left when he was 14. After leaving the house at Lebanon Park George had a very interesting life. When he was 18 he rode a motorbike all through Europe and back to Herne where he met some of his old neighbours. He then joined the army and served in Hong Kong and Singapore before moving to Ecuador to manage a factory and then, finally, settling down in the USA. George eventually found out that after The synagogue in Herne, still smoulder- he left Germany his mother and sister were taken to Stutthof and his brothers ing after being set alight by Nazis in to Bergen- Belsen concentration camps. 1938 Photo: Ralf Piorr His mother died on the death march in Poland in 1945. George’s father manget a snack. He longed to go to the local aged to escape, fighting for the British swimming pool but because he was Jewarmy against the Nazis in Africa before ish he wasn’t allowed to. Nevertheless, reaching England and finding George in he had a very happy life until Kris1946. His sister and brothers went to tallnacht, the night of broken glass, Australia and lived there until they died. which was a violent riot, against Jews George visited them in 1986 for the first carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 10th November 1938. The windows in George’s parent’s furniture shop had been smashed. Pictures show the aftermath of Kristallnacht in Herne, just over seventy years ago this month. After that day, George’s family was forced to move from their home and went to live with Mr. Ganz, the president of their Jewish community in Herne. Five days later his father was taken to a concentration camp. On April 19th 1939 his mother and siblings took him to Dortmund station to go on a train to Holland, he was allowed to bring a suitcase with just a few clothes. It was the last time that George ever saw his mother. Eventually George ended up living in 52 Lebanon Park in Twickenham and when to school at St. Mary’s there. Soon after arriving he was forced to change his
Freddy Popper, left , with Emil Haber, another of the boys who lived in Lebanon Park Photo: Michael Popper age. Freddy and his mother escaped from Vienna in 1939 and made their way to London where Freddy lived at the hostel in Lebanon Park. When Freddy left the house in December 1944 he found work as a tailor, becoming a highly -skilled pattern cutter. After travels around the country for work he settled back in Richmond Borough, living in St Margarets from the early 1990s until he passed away. The boys who lived in Lebanon Park— do you remember them? The young people researching the boys at Lebanon Park would like to hear from any local residents who remember those who lived there along with George and Freddy. Please do get in touch with Mr Lawrence at Hampton School if you remember: Fred Pauker, Emil Haber
Gerald & Harold Ohrbach Ralph Metzger Frank Reichmann George Ruf today with one of his grandchildren in the USA Photo: George Ruf
Kurt Kristeller
9 Cambodian survivor visited our school A survivor of the Cambodian genocide kindly took the time to visit our school and talk about experiences reports Lilu from Turing House School. The Cambodian genocide took place from 1975 to 1979, after the Khmer Rouge seized power of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh where Sokphal lived at the time. His family and many others were asked to leave the city in April 1975 after ’13-14 year olds in black uniform’ knocked on their door, at 6am in the morning. One pointed a gun at Sokphal and threatened to shoot if they didn’t leave immediately. Everyone had to leave even the elderly or disabled or else they became another victim in the genocide. He and his family left to go to the countryside with their car, not taking anything with them. The roads were packed as millions of people were chased out of their homes and hurried to become agricultural slaves. Those who didn’t die initially had to leave to work in the countryside as farmers, in fields now known as the killing fields. Sokphal worked hard every day under the hot sun in the killing fields until the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979. The killing was brutal and anyone who was educated (lawyers, teachers, doctors), disobeyed their orders or tried to steal food was executed. Meals were incredibly undersized, with a small tub of rice for an entire family. This meant, Sokphal only ate a couple of spoonful of rice a day which he had to combine with plants or grass. Some chose to add worms or bugs to their diet however they often carried dangerous diseases and therefore people died as no medicine was available to them. At the time, Sokphal was a student but fortunately lost his ID so he could convince the soldiers he was an uneducated boy selling newspapers and had no idea how to read or write. After a couple of months of backbreaking work, Sokphal and his family were told they’d get reunited with his father, who was taken away to be ‘reeducated’, but they were taken deep inside a jungle and abandoned without anything helping them to survive. His grandmother, whom he was close with, soon fell ill and without any medicine
she passed away in his arms. Soon after, Sokphal was taken away to continue working in a labour camp, separated from his family. Two days after he left, he heard the petrifying news that his little brother, who was only six years old, had died of malaria. The Khmer Rouge ordered him to train as a soldier but he vowed never to execute anyone. When the Vietnamese invaded on December 25th of 1979, Sokphal was captured as the Vietnamese army believed he was a soldier by choice. He was ruthlessly tortured for
clear but estimates place it between one and two million murders with a few survivors able to share such a traumatic experience with Sokphal being one of those few. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to listen to his story knowing the impact it had on him. I recommend for everyone to take an offer such as this if possible as you can gain a tremendous amount of knowledge on history from all around the world and it can help to prevent events such as this genocide from being repeated in the future. Thank you so much Sokphal for sharing your story.
Photo: Turing House School
information through methods such as being held in a brick oven, to be burned alive. At last, a fellow prisoner arranged for both their releases and he was reunited with his family soon after. The family made their way to a refugee camp in Thailand in hopes to start a better life in another country. The way was dangerous as they could be recaptured anytime but by good luck they managed to escape. For seven years Sokphal and his family lived in refugee camps but ultimately they made contact with a cousin living in England who sponsored them through the Red Cross. In 1987, Sokphal and his family could, despite everything they’ve been through, start a new, safe, peaceful life away from the horrors of the genocide. The number of people executed isn’t
Tragedy of Darfur through childrens’ eyes All victims of genocides like the one in Darfur deserve commemoration. Nevertheless, somehow it is the suffering of children that strikes home the most. That is why the drawings of child victims of the genocide in Darfur, collected by charity Waging Peace UK, are so tragic. They show horrific attacks on the childrens’ villages by Janjaweed militia & government aircraft. I hope that there may be an exhibition of them soon in our local area so that more people can learn about what happened to the children of Darfur.
10 After visiting Auschwitz we must speak out caust. We focused our Next Step project on the lives of two victims. We created podcasts, to educate students in the lower years of our school, describing the lives of Gezela Band and Bela Guttmann before the Holocaust and their traumatic experience during it. Although we have finished the formal course as ambassadors of the Holocaust Educational Trust, we have a duty to speak out against injustices and acts of persecution for the rest of our lives.
Meeting Nedzad
Photo: Louis Fell
Matt and Paul report on the impact of their trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau
and moving service, and there was not a better way for us to pay our respects to those who had lost their lives, and those After a three hour flight from Gatwick to who still suffer from anti-Semitism toKrakow and a coach journey we came to day. This moment will stay with us for the town of Oswiecim in Poland. The the rest of our lives. Nazis called it Auschwitz. It was freezing and snow covered the ground. The Having retuned to London after a drainweather provided a suitable backdrop ing day, both physically and emotionally, for what would prove to be a challenging we knew that our work was not finished. day. A tour of the camp, where we furDuring the Lessons from Auschwitz thered our knowledge of the appalling course, on top of the moving experience way in which Jews and other persecuted of visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, we were minorities were treated. This was all in fortunate to meet Holocaust survivor Eva build-up though for the Jewish prayers Campbell, and hear her inspirational led by a Rabbi. This was a very powerful words. Eva powerfully conveyed the message that each of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust had an individual life, full of opportunities, that was brutally cut short. However, for me her most poignant and moving words were ‘there is no such thing as an innocent bystander.’ Moreover, in the final part of the course we, took inspiration from Paul and Matt were inspired by their visit to Auschwitz to Eva on the importance of individualising the Holomake a podcast about Bela Guttman and Gezela Band
Nedzad Avdic was 17 years old when he was taken for execution. As a young Muslim man in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica he was a target for Bosnian Serb soldiers in 1995. We were lucky enough to ask Nedzad a few questions. As a boy Nedzad witnessed how hate, left unchecked, can develop with truly awful consequences. He told us that “Students should learn about all these horrific crimes and see how seemingly
Nedzad Avdic survived the genocide in Srebrenica Photo: Holocaust Memorial Day Trust trivial things can lead to terrible outcomes. How people were killed, burned, buried alive just because of a different name, skin colour or the God they pray to. In Bosnia, the people were so similar that one could not know who this or that man was and what his religion was. Nevertheless , there was a bloody war that ended with the genocide.” Looking ahead Nedzad thinks that “by talking, witnessing and educating younger generations we can change something in the future”.
11 Liberation of Bergen-Belsen 75 years ago The British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp 75 years ago Seraphina, from Richmond Park Academy, reports Bergen- Belsen was a World War II concentration camp. It was established in 1940 as a prisoner of war camp and converted to a labour camp for Jews, political prisoners, Roma gypsies and other persecuted groups from 1943. Whilst Bergen-Belsen didn’t have gas chambers, the death rates were still staggeringly high due to starvation, overcrowding and diseases such as typhus, tuberculosis and dysentery. As the population expanded from 7,300 in July 1944 to 60,000 in April 1945 rations became smaller until food and water ran out,
and as a result, 50,000 people died at Bergen- Belsen. The camp was liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on April 15th 1945. The allied forces found over 3,000 unburied corpses on arrival. In the following days there was a death rate of 500 per day and despite the work of relief teams there were still 4,000 deaths in the month following liberation. The Allied Forces made Schutzstaffel members who had run the camp bury bodies in mass graves as punishment for their crimes. A displaced persons (DP) camp was then opened for survivors that ran from 1945-1951, when all survivors had emigrated. Most went to Palestine, Canada or America. The DP camp was a thriving community
in the time it was open. There was an average of 20 weddings per day in the weeks after liberation and over 2,000 children born in the following months. 2020 will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, so this is a focus of the January 2020 Holocaust Memorial Day. A 2016 study showed that only 15.2% of students associate Bergen- Belsen with the Holocaust, revealing significant gaps in Holocaust related education. In response, £1.7 million is being out towards educating the next generation about the holocaust. This involves school trips to Bergen- Belsen and projects in schools to increase awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust. .
'In spite of Hitler, I'm here to talk at my grandson's school' The roads and structures are full of mines and booby-traps left behind by ISIS and there are still mass graves being uncovered, adding to the tens that have already been recorded. Ariel Caine was part of the Forensic Architecture team who worked on the project. He collaborated with young men and women from Sinjar itself, most of whom were in the region during the unfolding of the ISIS genocide. Because many of the places associated with the genocide, such as mass graves surrounded by mines, were not accessible because they are still too dangerous to visit. So, Forensic Architecture and Yazda used an innovative mix of technology to Bea Green, who lives in our Borough, is a Holocaust born ingather 1924 and lived with her parents and an older solve thesurvivor. problemShe andwas ‘visit’ and brother. Bea’s father was a successful lawyerevidence and the about family the enjoyed holidays in their country house outside of Munich. She had crimes committed fromand the started air. “In Sinjar used some a nanny who took her for walks in the local park schoolwe when she was of six. the kite aerial photography as a means However, by the time that Hitler had come totopower. moment, somehow knew that she was regarded by other enableFrom aerialthat survey underBea conditions Germans not just as a Bavarian. Instead, Hitler’s where regime drones ensured attractthat too she much was attention seen as being Jewish first and then Bavarian… andyears are directly associated with profes-decided to send her to Britain on the and being different from other Bavarians. After of persecution Bea’s parents sional survey.” Usinglives kiteswere alongside ‘Kindertransport’ - an initiative by which thousands of childrens’ saved. She is pictured with her grandson just after drones also made sense because they she spoke to schoolchildren from around the Borough in 2018. are cheaper to make and repair. Photo: Forensic Architecture
12 Marking HMD2020: Local events Richmond Synagogue Year 9 Workshops (by invitation only) - 21st, 22nd and 23rd January
Our local community is marking Holocaust Memorial Day with many events. Please see details below Landmark Arts Centre: 15th January until 2nd February 10am-3pm 75 Memorials – A Community Remembers: In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of AuschwitzBirkenau, Richmond Council, working with the Landmark Arts Centre, will be showcasing artwork, poetry and prose Langdon Down Museum of Learning submitted by schools, community groups Disability: – 27th January at 2.30pm. and individuals from across the borough. Finding Ivy: From Belonging and aliena- This exhibition will be a moving comtion and back again: tells the story of memoration of the Holocaust and, by one victim of the Aktion T4 programme. featuring work from many different areas Ivy was bornMemorial in theDayUK and in 1930 went of our community, a fitting reflection on Photo: Holocaust Trust to live in an institution in Vienna. In 1940 the national theme for the 2020 Holoshe was killed at Hartheim castle near caust Memorial Day: Stand Together. Linz. This will be followed at 3.30pm by Admission: FREE the film Aktion T4 (see films section)
Free event, booking not required. The Langdon Down Centre, Normansfield, 2A Langdon Park, Teddington TW11 9PS
Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability: – 27th January at 3.30pm. Aktion T4 is being shown as part of Richmond Borough’s Holocaust Memorial Day programme. In this 30-minute documentary film, Berg Kanikanian, who has Down’s syndrome, travels to Poland and Germany to visit the sites of Nazi euthanasia centres where approximately 275,000 people with learning disabilities were murdered. There will be a related talk preceding the film at 14.30hrs (see talks section) Please note this film is not suitable for anyone under 16 years of age. Free event, booking not required.
Photo: Eric Murangwa Eugene
Orange Tree Youth Theatre: Sun 26th January 3pm-4pm Stand Together. As part of Richmond Boroughs’ Holocaust Memorial Day programme two of the youth groups have been exploring the 2020 HMD theme of standing together. Join us for two short brand-new pieces of theatre that have been created from scratch by young people. Tickets are FREE, booked via OT website, www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA
Landmark Arts Centre, Ferry Road, Teddington. TW11 9NN Landmark Arts Centre: Sunday 2nd February 10.30am-4.30pm ASHIRAH – I WILL SING: A special choral workshop, run by the internationally renowned Jewish choral director Polina Shepherd, will celebrate Jewish musical culture, in particular that of East European Jews. A wide range of material, sacred and secular, traditional and new will be explored in Hebrew and Yiddish, but no knowledge of the languages is necessary. Singers will be expected to take part in the evening concert at 6pm on the same day. Cost: £20. To book places please call 020 8977 7558 or email education@landmarkartscentre.org Richmond Borough Library Displays Monday 20 January to Sat 1 February. Holocaust Memorial Day displays will be mounted in East Sheen, Ham, Hampton, Richmond Lending, Teddington and Whitton libraries.
Sunday 2nd February 2020 6pm - Ashirah – I will Sing: Jewish Music Doors & bar open: 5.15pm An evening to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. A special concert of Jewish secular and sacred music sung in Yiddish & Hebrew by a community choir under the direction of Polina Shepherd, an expert in Yiddish choral music & an international Jewish performer & composer. The concert will also feature Merlin Shepherd, a leading player of traditional East European Klezmer Clarinet. Organised by London Borough of Richmond & Landmark Arts Centre in aid of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust & Landmark Arts Centre. Cost: £5 or Pay What you Can To book: https:// www.wegottickets.com/event/487240 or call 020 8977 7558
