Holocaust Memorial Day was commemorated at school today with
a very powerful assembly for all S5 and S6 pupils, put together by pupils and
staff. Holocaust Memorial Day is a chance to remember the millions who were
killed during the Holocaust and also all those whose lives have been lost or
marked by genocide since then and to this day.
Sophia Purcell and Robbie Forbes spoke movingly about their
recent trip to Auschwitz. Haris Brder gave a very powerful speech about his own
family’s experience of the recent Bosnian conflict. Rachel Birrell read out a prize-winning poem
she had written in P7 for Holocaust Memorial Day ‘Because we were Jews’. Catherine Park and Lynsey Pearson gave
accomplished performances on the piano, and Anna Schmidt sang an unaccompanied
version of ‘Tears in Heaven’.
We had also had two visiting speakers, facilitated by the
Edinburgh Interfaith Association. Irina Winfield spoke movingly of her great grandmother’s
experiences in the 1915 Armenian Genocide and a music producer from Rwanda,
Patrick, sang a powerful song in his own language of hopes for peace after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
At the end of the assembly, everyone lifted up an image of a
burning candle in silent commemoration and remembrance.
