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| Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorated across the UK
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Jewish communities throughout the UK marked Yom Hashoah, the Israeli Holocaust remembrance day this week, with a series of services and exhibitions which paid tribute to those Jews who were murdered by the Nazis during WW2.
Although the main event in London takes place at the Institute of Education on Sunday morning, most of the ceremonies were held on Monday and Tuesday, the official day of remembrance in Israel.
In London many of the local synagogues held their own services. The community in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north west London, displayed an exhibition of paintings of Moshe Galili, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor on Monday night. Rabbi Barry Marcus, a Holocaust educator, led the service with Cantor Moshe Haschel, from St Johns Wood Synagogue. More than 300 people attended the event that included candle lighting and readings by the synagogue youth.
On Tuesday Barnet Synagogue in north west London held a special joint service with four other local communities in the area which included readings, candle lighting, memorial prayers and testimony from Holocaust survivor, Zigi Shipman.
Northern England remembers
Manchester’s commemoration, organised by the Representative Council, AJEX, the Zionist Central Council and the ‘45s group’, took place on Tuesday evening, at the King David High School in north Manchester.
The central part of the service was readings from second-generation children of survivors and a boys choir. Children enacted stories of survivors and read memorial prayers. Over 600 people attended including for the first time, the Bishop of Manchester. Jewish communal leaders, mayors from surrounding boroughs and over 50 civil dignitaries and councillors were also in attendance.
In Leeds, north west England, Holocaust survivors in the community made a presentation of testimony of their experiences of the Holocaust and six candles were lit. Liverpool also commemorated on Monday evening with some 200 people gathered for a service at the Jewish Community Centre.
In Scotland, the community in Glasgow held a commemoration on Tuesday night at the Giffnock and Newland Hebrew Congregation, the largest synagogue in Scotland. The theme was based on children of the Holocaust whose lives were changed forever and entitled “stolen childhood”. Over 300 people attended the service. A host of dignitaries attended including city councillors and a member of the Scottish parliament.
And in Edinburgh, a service took place on Tuesday evening at the Holocaust Memorial Stone in the Peace Park at Princes Street Gardens, below the famous Edinburgh Castle.
In the Welsh capital, Cardiff, the reform and orthodox synagogues came together for a service of prayers and readings held on Monday night at the Cardiff New Synagogue.
Official commemoration
Sunday's official event, organised by Yad Veahem, The Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen (AJEX) and Board of Deputies of British Jews, will see politicians, from the Houses of Commons and Lords, lay leaders, the chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks pay their respects.
Representatives from youth organisations will make presentations and Jewish ex-servicemen and Holocaust survivors will light candles in remembrance. Over 600 people are expected to attend.
Sister Margaret Shepherd, director of the Council of Christians and Jews, said, “Holocaust Remembrance Day is a time to be with the survivors as they remember the horrors that they experienced. As a Christian, I always feel deeply privileged to be so warmly welcomed to the Jewish community’s own event to mark those traumatic years.”
“I hope that my presence is a reassurance that what happened will never be forgotten. Yom Hashoah is also a time when I am able to stand together with the Jewish community in trying to build a world free of anti-Semitism and offer them my friendship, love and support in today’s very difficult world,” Sister Margaret added.
Also on Sunday Newcastle Hebrew congregation in the north east of England will host Dr Stephen Smith, chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and founder of the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre. And Birmingham will commemorate on Sunday at Witton Jewish Cemetery in east Birmingham.
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