Holocaust Memorial Day: Tuesday 27 January 2015
Shropshire Council is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, in a special tree planting ceremony with Mereside Primary School in Shrewsbury at noon on Tuesday 27th January 2015.
The short ceremony will include candle lighting and a memorial prayer, and is supported by the South Shropshire Interfaith Forum and the Shrewsbury Inter Faith Forum.
The date is national Holocaust Memorial Day, for which this year’s theme is: “keep the memory alive”. Cabinet Member Councillor Mike Owen will be planting a cherry tree with the help of pupils from the school and local Shropshire Council and Shrewsbury Town Councillor Jane Mackenzie.
Councillor Mike Owen, Cabinet Member for Resource, Finance and Support said:
“Holocaust Memorial Day has my total support. I am very pleased that local primary school children will be taking part in this tree planting ceremony, and that it will complement the special assembly that students at Church Stretton School are holding the day before, as well as the interfaith service that I understand is also taking place in Church Stretton on the evening of the 27 January.
It is really important for our young people to learn more about what happened in World War Two and has happened since, and to “keep the memory alive”. I am sure that the planting of this local cherry tree will be viewed as a fitting and moving contribution to local and national events, and I look forward to playing my part.”
Councillor Mackenzie added:
“The commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day is very important to me, and I’m delighted that it will be remembered in this way. My grandfather was responsible for saving over 250 Jewish children from Nazi death camps, including Auschwitz. I always try to raise awareness about anti Semitism and where it can lead. I am also really pleased that the Town Council has been able to help with the location and planting of the tree. I know that the school children will take great care of the tree, and I will take a keen interest myself in watching it grow and bear fruit.”
Mr Mark Michaels, of the Jewish community in South Shropshire and the South Shropshire Interfaith Forum, has helped Shropshire Council with advice on the event, including the type of tree. A British cherry tree has been chosen in recognition of the importance of fruit trees to the Jewish faith. The tree is also one of the trees in the “Incredible Edible Shropshire” project, for fruit trees that will contribute to a sustainable natural environment.
Notes for Editors
The Holocaust
Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis attempted to systematically annihilate all of Europe’s Jews. This is known as the Holocaust, or the Shoah in Hebrew. By the end of the Holocaust, six million Jewish men, women and children had perished in ghettos, mass-shootings, in concentration camps and extermination camps.
The 27th January marks the date of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops. Auschwitz was a network of several camps, combining forced labour and extermination camps. Over 1.1 million people were murdered at this site, over 90% of the victims being Jewish. The peak of the slaughter occurred in 1944, when more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in just two months.
Additional detail on the Holocaust has been sourced from website www.hmd.org.uk.
The HMD website also gives more detail about wider Nazi persecution, and about other genocides that have been committed since World War Two. This encompasses genocides in Cambodia (1975-1979); Rwanda (1994); Bosnia (1992-1995); and ongoing genocide in Darfur since 2003.
It is twenty years since the genocide in July 1995 in Srebrenica, Bosnia. A total of around 23,000 women, children and elderly people were deported from the town. 8,000 Muslim men, along with boys aged around 13 years and older, were then killed under the orders of General Ratko Mladic.
The Cherry Tree
The tree that has been chosen is a British fruiting cherry tree, native to the West Midlands. The variety is called the “Black Oliver”. The tree has been sourced from “Tom the Apple Man”, whose nursery is in Weston Rhyn, north of Oswestry. It was applied for through the “Incredible Edible Shropshire” initiative.
Shrewsbury Town Council as landowners are supporting this project, and will prepare the ground and maintain the tree and surrounding area after planting.
Mereside Primary School is expected to play a part in assisting with maintenance and care, adopting the tree as part of their ethos towards care of the Mere Pool and surrounding area. There is space for further trees to grow from this first tree.
Incredible Edible Shropshire (IES) coordinates community growing activity around the county. The aim of the initiative is to encourage community action, business involvement and educational awareness around food growing.. Projects are appraised on benefits to, and impact on, the wider community, the local environment (including any existing wildlife interest), and the sustainability of the project.
Other Events
The event is one of a number of activities in Shropshire, including the events in Church Stretton and a touring exhibition entitled “Righteous Muslims”. The exhibition is at a number of locations including colleges and schools as well as at Shirehall in Shrewsbury week commencing 2nd February 2015. Details of dates and venues are available via the Equality, Diversity and Social Inclusion web pages on Shropshire Council website www.shropshire.gov.uk.
