Students and staff from King’s Ely Junior and King’s Ely Senior came together at Ely Cathedral to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day.
The theme of the school’s service of remembrance was ‘Torn from Home’.
The service was held to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau.
It also marked the 25th anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda and 40 years since the ending of the Genocide in Cambodia.
Before the service, students in Years 7 to 13 were encouraged to read and reflect on the life of Sokphal Din, who was forced out of his home by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, aged just 17.
Sokphal endured hard labour in the killing fields and eventually survived the Genocide in Cambodia by escaping to Thai refugee camps where he lived for seven years.
A short poem written by Karen Gershon, entitled ‘I was not there’, was read out at the service.
Karen was rescued as a child on the Kindertransport. Students were invited to light candles in memory of those who lost their lives.
King’s Ely Junior and Senior students have also taken part in the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust postcard project this year, where pupils have learnt about the history and explored the life stories of people affected then written personal postcards to them.
Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27) was first held in 2001.
The chosen date is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Union in 1945.
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