Holocaust Memorial Day is a vital occasion to remember all those who perished in the horrific atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, including six million Jewish men, women and children. For the past 20 years, I have attended the gathering hosted by Barnet Council to mark this important date in our nation’s annual calendar.
I was there once again at Middlesex University’s Rickett Quadrangle today. As always with this event, the highlight was hearing from survivors. These included Hendon resident, Peter Summerfield BEM.
It was incredibly moving to hear of Peter’s early childhood in Nuremberg when he and his twin brother saw a synagogue being burnt down as they passed by on the tram taking them to nursery school.
His parents had been trying to find ways to leave Germany since 1935, eventually getting a visa for the USA, via the UK. The family was supposed to travel on 30th August 1939 but Peter’s grandmother persuaded them to leave a few days earlier because she was afraid war was about to break out. His parents decided to do this, but had no money for new train tickets to get to the UK. The caretaker of their building kindly gave them the money, despite being almost a stranger.
Peter told today’s gathering that the ship they had initially intended to take never left. So without that snap decision to leave a few days earlier than planned, he and his family might have ended up in a death camp. After a long journey, they made it to England, arriving at Liverpool Street station with nothing but the clothes on their back. Peter and his family successfully built a new life for themselves here.
Over the years, this Holocaust remembrance event has often reduced me to tears, and this time was no exception.
As well as hearing Peter’s heart-wrenching story, young people from local schools read out a statement of commitment to remember the Shoa and to do all they can to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. They had participated in the Holocaust Educational Trust programme which takes school students to visit Auschwitz to learn about the horrors which took place there. Tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp where so many lost their lives to appalling cruelty of the Nazi regime.
Wonderful music was provided by the Barnet Band, the Alyth Youth Choir and the Edgware & Reform Synagogue Choir.
Barnet is home to one of the largest Jewish communities between New York and Tel Aviv, and our Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration is a chance to affirm our commitment to root out antisemitism wherever is manifests itself. We also celebrate our multi-faith, multicultural borough as a place where people with an incredibly diverse range backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures can live harmoniously together, with mutual respect and understanding.
