Aim To understand why we mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

What is Holocaust Memorial Day? 27th January each year is Holocaust Memorial Day. On this day, we remember events that have happened in the past, when people were treated badly. This is so that we can learn from them and make sure they don’t happen again. We remember the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and terrible crimes committed during conflicts in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Today, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day we are going to look at what has been happening to people in a place called Darfur.

What is Holocaust Memorial Day? Bosnia Cambodia Darfur Rwanda

The Holocaust In 1939, World War Two began and the Nazis invaded lots of countries in Europe, for example Poland and France. The Nazis wanted to rule over all of Europe, and get rid of all the Jews from every country in Europe. The Nazis put Jewish people from Germany, and other countries they had invaded, into camps called concentration camps and they killed a very large number of them.

Discrimination Against Jews Nazis said that Jewish people could not: There were many things that Jews were not allowed to do that other Germans could do. The Nazis believed that Jews were not as good as other people, even though they had done nothing wrong. sit on the benches in parks go to the swimming pool own a bike or a radio go to restaurants or German shops own a passport or vote in the elections attend school or university go to the cinema, theatre, concerts, exhibitions, beaches and holiday resorts Can you imagine if you couldn’t do the things that you like, just because of something that makes you different?

Kindertransport Some Jewish parents had the chance to send their children to Britain where they would be safer. However, this was a very hard decision for parents to make. The children left Germany on trains; this was called the Kindertransport. The children could only take a small amount of belongings, and were not given long to pack their suitcases. The children had to say goodbye to their parents, as only children were allowed to come to Britain on the Kindertransport trains.

Kindertransport The children travelled across Europe and the journey lasted for two days. Many of these children’s parents were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. These children had to start a new life in Britain without their friends or family, never returning to their home. It was very difficult and frightening for these children to re-build their lives in a strange new country all alone. If this was happening today and you met one of the children from the Kindertransport, how do you think you would treat them? How could you make them feel better about being in a different country with no family?