About Us

About Us

We have been giving our presentations for many years and this section highlights past years work.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2020
'Stand Together'

This year, nearly twelve hundred Year 9 school students and student teachers attended. 

At each session, a Holocaust Survivor or Refugee spoke. Comments from some of the student teachers at Middlesex University, who heard Susan Pollock MBE, survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the death march to Bergen-Belsen, include:
‘You made me think about my own family. Some members have been murdered and tortured for being Kurdish. For so many years I asked why this happened to us and other thousands of Kurdish people. But, I guess hate doesn’t always have a reason. Thank you very much for sharing your story. I hope one day I will have the courage to speak on behalf of my family.’

‘My family have left a civil war and came to London from Somalia, so I became very emotional when I listened to your story. I look forward to the future for my country and am positive it will improve. Britain – I was born and raised here and am proud to be British. I am so moved.’
Gerald Granston BEM spoke about his time, aged 6, on the SS St. Louis. In 1939 over 900 Jews left Germany for Cuba on this ship, hoping to travel on to the USA. Most were not allowed to disembark in Havana. The ship sailed on to the USA where it was refused permission to dock and forced to return to Europe. He told the students “I am a dinosaur. People don’t listen to me, but I am talking to you because people will listen to you and it is up to you to fight the prejudice that you encounter”

Students commented: 
‘I am humbled and inspired by your words. I hope to create an all-inclusive learning environment when I have my own class and I hope to fight prejudice. I realise that the saying “words will never harm you” is not an excuse to sit back.’

‘I feel blessed and beyond privileged to be in your company today. Your courage, strength and storytelling abilities are inspirational. Thank you for opening your heart and sharing your memories. I will always remember and promise to stop prejudice as a teacher and a human wherever I encounter it.’
Students joined in a ‘Life in a Jar’ workshop, about Irene Sendler, the Polish Roman Catholic social worker who smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto and hid their true identities in jars, which she buried. One Muslim student asked if Jam Jar was an acronym for Jews And Muslims Join Against Racism. It’s a thought.

The Head Teacher of one of the schools whose students attended, said ‘Our annual visit to the synagogue is one of the most important educational opportunities which our students experience whilst in the school. We are very grateful for all that you and your volunteers do to make the visit so insightful and such an important life lesson. Students are always very positive about what they have learnt, and often talk about how they have been challenged by the activities and the testimonies of those that present.’
Speaker addressing Students
Students taking part in a workshop

Holocaust Memorial Day 2019
‘Torn from Home’

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 was ‘Torn from Home,’ and participants reflected on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call ‘Home’ was part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing persecution and genocide. We also remembered the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust through Nazi persecution and in the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

We held eleven educational workshops for 950 students from local Barnet schools and teacher training students from Middlesex University, all run by trained educators and volunteers from FRS and other local synagogues. Each included testimony from a Holocaust survivor and a workshop based on the life of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto.

As a departure from what we normally do, we invited Antony Lishak, educator, author and founder of the Holocaust education charity ‘Learning from the Righteous’ to present a workshop for one of our schools. It focused on acts of rescue and resistance by those who chose not to be bystanders and in particular on Irena Sendler, who is a national hero in Poland and a wonderful role model.

Students were encouraged to respond to the actions of those who chose not to be bystanders by devising practical ways in which they can make a positive impact on the lives of others and the world they live in.  

The workshops enabled us to reflect on how the lessons of the past can inform our lives today to ensure that we all work together to create a safer, better future

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