Barnet’s multi-faith community gathers for Holocaust Memorial Day event to remember victims

Young students met a Holocaust survivor in an inspiring workshop prior to the memorial

Holocaust survivors were among around 450 people who attended Barnet Council’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day event at Middlesex University at the weekend. 

This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on January 27, is themed around ‘Bridging Generations’, ensuring current and future generations are responsible for learning from the past and carrying those lessons forward.

The London Borough of Barnet is the local authority with the highest number of Jewish people among its population in the UK – around 15% of its residents, or more than 56,000 people. 

The Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Danny Rich, said: “As I travel throughout the Borough, I have been moved by the decency and ingenuity of so many of its residents. Indeed, only last Friday I visited a Jewish care facility in Friern Barnet, for two residents each celebrating their 100th birthday. I could wax lyrical about their vitality and the experience of what they shared and what they have seen in their remarkable centuries, but I was equally moved by the support of them by the volunteers in the local Jewish community and by the care they received from staff whose origins lie across the globe in Europe, Asia, and Africa.” 

Peter Summerfield BEM, a Holocaust Survivor whose immediate family were able to escape Nazi Berlin just four days before war was declared, lit the memorial candle that gave start to the service. All the families’ possessions and luggage were stolen by the time they reached England and Peter stayed in London, while his dad was interned on the Isle of Man. Later, Peter won a scholarship to study Law at Oxford and qualified as a solicitor. He has five children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Emily Cass (pictured above), who works at Holocaust education charity Generation2Generation, encouraged listeners to be courageous and speak up in the face of injustice. She dedicated her presentation to all her family members who did not survive the Holocaust and to all those who were brave and helped others. Emily’s mum Sala had fled her native Poland in the 1930s with the rise of nationalism, escaping first to France and then to Switzerland. She reached Britian in 1945 and reunited with her husband Paul, who had been wounded fighting during the war, and they built a new life in London.

The event included performances by Barnet Band, Alyth Youth Choir, Emma Rich, and the Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue Singing Circle, and speeches from school students. Katerina Angeli and Oliver Cokell from East Barnet School who took part in the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project. 

At the end of the ceremony, attendees were invited to read poems by students from Alma Primary School in Whetstone and to view No Child’s Play, a travelling exhibition from the Museums Division, Yad Vashem. 

As attendees departed, students from Akiva school in Finchley encouraged them to keep alive the memory of children lost during the Holocaust, handing out a snowdrop bulb – symbolic of a child that died – for them to plant.

“Whilst I was preparing for today’s ceremony, I remembered the words of Holocaust survivor Primo Levi, who – when he as writing about the horrors he witnessed at Auschwitz – asked us to do two things. To engrave them on our hearts and to tell our children. As we prepare the young men and women of our community for their future lives and careers, we need to remember his message. Because the immensity of that tragedy – and the lessons we must learn from it – are too important to be confined to the memory of one generation alone.”

Middlesex University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shân Wareing

Prior to the event, Professor Wareing had joined Middlesex University academics and their BA Primary Education Year 2 and PGCE students for a workshop run by Finchley Reform Synagogue which involves a talk from a survivor or their family member and activities to help people learning about Jewish lives and culture.

Tasnima, a PGCE Primary Education (QTS) student and workshop attendee, said: “It was truly inspiring to see people from different religions and backgrounds coming together in such a respectful and welcoming space to learn from one another. Experiences like this show how powerful education and open dialogue can be in bringing communities together. Visits like this are so important in helping to challenge stereotypes, reduce prejudice and encourage understanding between different communities. I feel incredibly grateful to have been part of such a meaningful experience.”