A survivor of a notorious death camp will talk at secondary schools in Kingston to mark Holocaust memorial day.
Auschwitz survivor Martin Bennett is among five speakers holding seminars at the Kingston, Surbiton & District Synagogue and the Kingston Liberal Synagogue.
Pupils from Tolworth Girls, Richard Challoner, Southborough High and Coombe Boys and Girls will participate in half-day workshops in the week before the anniversary on Friday, January 27.
The pupils will hear from persecuted refugees from Prague and Paris and watch a video about Germans who courageously opposed the Nazi regime by providing hiding places for Jewish people.
This year’s theme is Speak Up, Speak Out, which highlights the need to speak up for those who need support against injustice.
The workshops will close with a candle-lighting ceremony, commemorating all those who died in the Holocaust.
Fleur Standring, from the Kingston Holocaust Committee, said: “We want the experience of attending our workshops to get young people thinking about the types and degree of injustice they see in their own community.
“The voices of so many were taken away in the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, while others stood by and did not speak up to protect them and their rights.
“We can choose today to speak up, using our voices for prevention, not persecution.”
Kingston is holding a civic service for Holocaust memorial day at Guildhall on Sunday, January 29.
Councillors and pupils from Tolworth Girls School will be at the event, with members of the public also invited join the commemoration.
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