Holocaust Memorial Day.pdf - Google Drive

Boroughbridge High School Wetherby Road Boroughbridge North Yorkshire YO51 9JX Tel: 01423 323540 Email: [email protected] Web: www.boroughbridgehigh.com Headteacher: Steve Shaw MEd, NPQH

24th January 2017 Dear Parent/Guardian As part of their study of the Holocaust this half term Year 9 will be off timetable on the morning of Friday 27th January, to take part in Holocaust Memorial Day. On this day annually, schools, communities and faith groups across the UK join together in national and local events to commemorate those people who became victims of the Nazis and their collaborators, and to consider the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust. This year students will be listening to a live testimony from Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich. Mala has survived both the ghettos in Poland, deportation and Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. After the liberation she was first sent to Sweden before reconnecting with family in England where she has lived ever since. Year 9 students nationally will participate in this event on Friday. Year 9 is the recommended year group for the compulsory study of the Holocaust as directed by the government. As I'm sure you agree, it is important these stories are told, especially as the number of Holocaust survivors is decreasing as we move further away from the event and it is important their inspirational histories are heard and incorporated into the teaching of each new generation. The aim of this morning is not to shock students with the events but to put in perspective the work they have done in their History lessons. I will be speaking to students before the video so they are prepared for what they hear, and myself and the rest of the History Department will be following up the testimony within lessons looking at how survivors’ stories help us learn about the Holocaust and assess how effective they are as a form of remembrance. Neither this morning nor in lessons is disturbing imagery used; the unit of work is taught through challenging the generalisations we have as a society surrounding what the Holocaust was and who the perpetrators were. If you have any further queries about the nature of this morning, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours faithfully M. Whiles Miss M Whiles Head of History

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