Holocaust Memorial Day 2013

Published on Wed Jan 30, 2013 by David Colbran

I was honoured to be commissioned for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust event which was held at Broughton Community Hub, Salford, Manchester, UK on Monday 28 January 2013. It was a formal civic ceremony of remembrance involving libraries, schools, and community organisations. Present were several councillors, the Mayors of Salford and many community leaders. There was a short film called "Forgotten Genocide" about the persecution of Roma and Sinti people presented by Lida Fakova and a guest speaker; holocaust surviviour Jack Aizenberg. The event concluded with blessings, prayers and the lighting of candles and the placing of remembrance stones.

"Jack Aizenberg was born in the town of Staszow, Poland in 1928. Jack chose to go into hiding to escape the round up of local Jewish residents by Nazi forces in 1942. His mother, father, younger brother and uncle were detained and transported to their deaths in Belzec. Subsequently he was apprehended and endured Colditz and Theresienstadt camps. He was just one of 10 of 600 prisoners to survive the infamous death march from Buchenwald to the Theresienstadt camp during the final days of the Second World War. In 1945 he was permitted to settle in Britain, along with 1000 other young Jewish survivors. Mr Aizenberg went on to establish a successful business in partnership with two friends he met in the camps. Jack featured in the ITV documentary Strictly Kosher in 2012 and was filmed travelling back to Poland to revisit his home town and the memorial to his family."

For more information please visit the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website.

Prev |< Photography and protests | Bedroom Tax protest in Liverpool >| Next

Author: David Colbran