Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, pupils took part in talks, assemblies, and discussions exploring the Holocaust and the meaning of genocide.
In the Senior Prep School, writer and researcher Tim Locke shared his family’s history, focusing on his mother, Ruth, and uncle, Raimund, who escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport, while their parents were left behind in Munich and later murdered in Nazi camps. His talk drew on family documents soon to be donated to the Imperial War Museum, alongside music and recorded testimony. SPS pupils also attended an assembly on the historical origins of the Holocaust.
Senior School pupils took part in tutorials exploring what genocide means and where the term comes from. They also heard from Anita Pelleg, who shared the story of her mother, Naomi Blake, a survivor of forced labour in a German munitions factory and a death march. Sixth Form historians engaged in a Q&A session with Anita, which focused on Jewish life in Hungary before the war.
Families are encouraged to continue these conversations at home using the History Department’s recommended resources. These include The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland, which tells the story of Rudi Vrba, who escaped Auschwitz as a teenager and warned Allied leaders about the death camps in 1944. One Life, a film starring Anthony Hopkins, telling the true story of Nicholas Winton and his efforts to rescue more than 600 Czech Jewish children, and Hotel Rwanda, which explores the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.
Suggested visits are the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London, the Jewish Museum (recommended age 14+), Auschwitz in Poland, which Sixth Form historians may visit as part of their A level studies, and Anne Frank’s House in Amsterdam.
Last year, families also got in touch to share personal connections to this period of history and to recommend further resources. If you have a story that needs to be told, or a resource to share, please contact Joanna Clarke, Head of History, at joanna.clarke@hppc.co.uk
