Students will participate in a unique programme hosted by synagogues to mark Holocaust Memorial Day

Pupils from Three Rivers will take part in an educational workshop and have the opportunity to listen to a Holocaust survivor recount their personal experiences of the Holocaust first-hand. The programme has also been adapted for college students and sixth formers.

Sara Bedford, leader of the Three Rivers District Council said: “The Holocaust was a dark time in human history. We must remember the Jewish lives lost and the millions killed. Let’s work together to eradicate hatred.”

This year’s workshop, on the theme ‘Torn from home’, will relate historical facts about the Holocaust to contemporary issues such as racism, discrimination, persecution and citizenship. All the sessions will conclude with closing reflections from each synagogue’s rabbi and the lighting of a memorial candle.

The sessions will run from January 28 to February 7.

The aims of the Northwood Holocaust memorial day events are to educate students about the Holocaust, make a connection between the Holocaust and subsequent genocides and invite students to consider their personal responsibility to promote tolerance in today’s world.

A closing ceremony on January 31 will be attended by Holocaust survivor Peter Lantos who at the age of five was deported with his parents to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany where his father died of starvation. Despite his traumatic experiences and the interruption to his education, Mr Lantos has built a distinguished career in academic medicine in England during which he has contributed to the understanding of diseases of the nervous system. He has become internationally known and was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Laura Marks OBE, chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and founder of Mitzvah Day, will also give an address.

Holocaust Memorial Day will be commemorated across the UK this Sunday.