Open invitation to Holocaust Memorial Day 2013

St.Helens Council will host a special Holocaust Memorial Service on Friday, 25th January 2013 in St.Helens Town Hall (10.30am-12noon).

The service will include a welcome by the Mayor, Councillor Geoff Almond plus readings by pupils from Cowley Language College, St. Augustine's, De La Salle School and musical performances from St.Augustine's Catholic High School.  Members of the public are also welcome to attend the commemorative event.

High school pupils at St. Cuthbert's in  St.Helens are putting together a special exhibition as part of Holocaust Memorial commemorations. St.Helens Council's Library Service is hosting an exhibition in Central Library from Monday 21 January at 6pm which has been designed by year 9 pupils from the school. The exhibition is called The Museum of Pavel and will feature diary entries, artwork and creative crafts based on Pavel, a character from the best selling book The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, a Holocaust tale by John Boyne.

In addition, Central Library will also have on display, The Last Goodbye, a travelling exhibition from the Jewish Museum, London. It tells the story of the 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees admitted to Britain on the Kindertransport in the late 1930's. The exhibition explores the life of the Kinder in Nazi Europe prior to their migration, separating from their parents and their journey to the UK, and settling and growing up in a foreign country. The exhibition highlights issues relating to prejudice, racism and indifference, and also explores the situation for more recent unaccompanied children seeking refuge in Britain.

Holocaust Memorial Day is about remembering the victims and those whose lives have been changed beyond recognition of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and the ongoing atrocities throughout the world today. Holocaust Memorial Day provides us with an opportunity to honour the survivors but it's also a chance to look to our own lives and communities today. Holocaust Memorial Day is a day for everyone. It's an opportunity for all the diverse strands of our communities to come together. It's also an opportunity for groups or organisations to remember the past and commit to creating a better future.

The 2013's theme is "Communities together:  Build a bridge". The theme reminds us that during the Holocaust, and during the subsequent genocides, hatred and persecution have fractured communities and turned neighbours against each other.  The culture and way of life of many communities were destroyed.  In some cases, whole communities were wiped out. The theme emphasises the need for us to show respect to others and to connect with others.  To show we are rejecting the hatred that resulted in genocide, we are asking people to "build bridges" within their community by signing an online statement.  To find out more visit www.hmd.org.uk

For more information about what's happening in St Helens go to www.whatsoninsthelens.com or telephone 01744 675492. For regular event updates go to facebook.com/whatsoninsthelens and 'like' our page or follow us on twitter.com/whatsonsthelens