Home Local News Holocaust survivor helps St Helens Council mark Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust survivor helps St Helens Council mark Holocaust Memorial Day

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St Helens Council welcomed a very special guest to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Belsen Concentration Camp survivor, Tomi Reichental whose visit to St Helens was organised by St Helens Council’s Library Service, shared his life story at a special service at St Helens Town Hall, and then at Central Library in the afternoon.

At the town hall service, candles of remembrance were lit – including one of 70 special candles designed by renowned sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor to mark the 70 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on 27 January 1945.

St Helens was selected as one of 70 sites nationwide to receive one of the symbolic candles – commissioned by the Sunday Times – along with Anne Frank’s Memorial Garden, Chester Cathedral and Liverpool Town Hall. The candle wick is surrounded by three wax walls and a ceiling so the flame is only visible from the front.

Mayor, Councillor Geoff Pearl, gave a reading to the audience at the town hall and students from schools including St Augustine’s, Mill Green and Cowley Language College staged performances and readings.

Tomi then spoke about his time at Belsen Concentration Camp when he was just a boy in front of a packed audience at Central Library attended by the Mayor, members of the public, and schools, where he once again lit the Kapoor-designed candle, and copies of his book; ‘I was a boy in Belsen’, were available to buy.

St Helens Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Housing, Planning and Community Safety, Councillor Richard McCauley, said: “It was an honour to welcome such a remarkable man to St Helens. I, as well as the many in attendance at both services, feel privileged to have heard Tomi’s story. It is crucial that these stories continue so that generations to come can hear and share stories such as this which are such an important part of world history.”

St Helens Library Service will be holding an exhibition as part of the Holocaust Memorial commemorations looking back in history at Nazi persecution and the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The exhibition, taking place from Tuesday 3 February – Friday 6 February in Central Library, will highlight the fundamental importance of continuing to work towards ending acts of hatred and discrimination.

Quotes from survivors appear throughout the exhibition to highlight the importance of continuing to work towards ending acts of hatred and discrimination.

St Helens Council helped show its support for Holocaust Memorial Day by flying the No Place for Hate flag above the town hall and is encouraging as many people as possible to sign an online pledge to show they will do all they can to tackle hate crime.

If you wish to sign the pledge, go to http:/safer.sthelens.gov.uk/pledges/hate-crime-pledge/

If you’ve been a victim of, or have witnessed hate crime, you can report it to Stop Hate UK on 0800 138 1625, or Merseyside Police on 101

For more information visit www.safersthelens.org.uk.

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