East Dunbartonshire Council will once again mark Holocaust Memorial Day with a number of activities taking place in secondary schools across the authority.
The Council has commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day every year since 2007 and in 2017 hosted Scotland’s national Holocaust Memorial Day event at Bishopbriggs Academy.
This year, S2 pupils at the school will attend workshops about Holocaust Memorial Day and hear from pupils who attended a trip to Poland about the Holocaust and their experience of visiting Auschwitz.
Douglas Academy will be holding its annual Holocaust Memorial Day event for S1 pupils on Friday 25 January. This involves them spending the morning working across a number of curriculum areas and culminates in pupils writing their own personal reflections on what they have learned about the Holocaust. The pupils will also hear from the school's two Holocaust Ambassadors about their visit to Auschwitz in October last year.
At Lenzie Academy, pupils will led House Assemblies focussing on the Holocaust and more recent genocides.
Pupils from Kirkintilloch and Turnbull high schools will participate in a live broadcast with a Holocaust survivor where they will have the chance to hear their story and ask questions and will also hear from pupils about their experiences at Auschwitz.
Kirkintilloch High pupils have also created a walk through gallery which will involve some images from the time of the Holocaust, some stories of victims and survivors and some Jewish poetry.
Some libraries in East Dunbartonshire will also have a display of relevant books and material relating to Holocaust Memorial Day.
Joint Council leader Andrew Polson said, "This is an important commemoration event for East Dunbartonshire Council each year and brings the issues of anti-discrimination and equality to life for pupils. It reminds us how important it is to confront all forms of hatred and discrimination.
"Holocaust Memorial Day provides an opportunity for everyone to learn lessons from the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur and apply them to the present day to create a safer, better future."
Joint Council leader Vaughan Moody added, "The theme for this year's Holocaust Memorial Day is 'Torn from home'. It encourages audiences to reflect on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call ‘home’ is part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing persecution and genocide. ‘Home’ usually means a place of safety, comfort and security.
"This year we will reflect on what happens when individuals, families and communities are driven out of, or wrenched from their homes, because of persecution or the threat of genocide, alongside the continuing difficulties survivors face as they try to find and build new homes when the genocide is over."
Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated internationally on 27 January each year. This date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the day in 1945 on which the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp – Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Further information about Holocaust Memorial Day can be found by visiting www.hmd.org.uk/