Flicker of hope as Holocaust remembered

Rudi Leavor, chairman of the Bradford Synagogue, lights a candle yesterday at Leeds Town Hall where an event was held to mark International Holocaust Memorial Day.

The poignant flame bore testimony to man’s brutality as the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and those affected by subsequent genocides were remembered.

Young people turned to the work of children who had lived in Terezin ghetto and concentration camp to create a piece of drama to mark international Holocaust Memorial Day.

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Using a book of pictures and poems drawn by children who lived in Terezin, the youngsters from The Carriageworks Theatre Academy in Leeds produced a compelling piece of dramatic theatre for the Leeds civic Holocaust Memorial Day event.

The pictures and poems show both the grim reality of the children’s experience in Terezin and their dreams and hopes for a better life.

Youngsters also interviewed Holocaust survivor Iby Knill – who now lives in Leeds – in order to help with the piece which was in keeping with the theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day – “The Legacy of Hope”.

Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated internationally on January 27 each year.

The date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the day in 1945 on which the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp – Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Picture: Simon Hulme.

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