Thought For The Day – Wednesday 25^th January 2023

Never Ever, Ever Forget

Friday 27th January is a very important day. Every year, the 27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day. We remember, and respect, this day every year.

The Holocaust was the systematic hatred, abuse, bullying, isolation, segregation, marginalisation, persecution, terrorising, imprisonment, torture and murder of the Jewish people by the Nazis. 6. 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. In Hebrew, The Holocaust is called Shoah. This means catastrophe or destruction.

Women; children, the black community and diverse ethnicities, races and cultures; LGBT+ people, the traveller community, the mentally ill, the disabled, the elderly, Jehovah’s witnesses and political and religious opponents were also hated, abused, bullied, isolated, segregated, marginalised, persecuted, terrorised, imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the Nazis

The Holocaust is ultimately where disrespect, dehumanization, hate, immorality and evil ultimately leads.

Lily Ebert MBE BEM is a survivor of The Holocaust. Lily was recently awarded an MBE by King Charles for Holocaust education. In recent times, Lily, 99 years old, has worked with her great-grandson, Dov, to share her story on-line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtNtpnDImh8 Their book was published in 2021.

In 1944, Lily and her family were taken to Auschwitz. Lily was with her mother, brother and three sisters. Upon arrival, like so many millions, the family were split up, either directed to the left or to the right. Lily’s mother, brother and sister were told to go right and were taken to the gas chambers and crematorium. Lily and her two sisters went another way; they never saw their family again. The only possession that Lily was able to keep was her gold pendant, given to her by her mother, which remarkably survived the camp with her, hidden in the heel of her shoe.

“When you hear from a witness, you become a witness”, says Lily Ebert MBE BEM. We must listen to the stories of Holocaust survivors, whilst they are still alive, to tell us what happened.

We need to tell our children about what happened to ensure we never ever, ever forget.