Council marks Holocaust Memorial Day
We hosted this year's Holocaust Memorial Day event on Wednesday 29 January and the theme was For A Better Future.
Published 20 January 2025
The memorial event, held at St Ninian's High School, was an evening of music and stories which highlighted the true horror of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The event also marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.
As well as moving music performances by East Renfrewshire school pupils, Dr Alfred Garwood MBE shared his traumatic story. Alfred was born in a Nazi ghetto, imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and later put on a train destined for Terezin Concentration Camp, when he and his family were liberated by the Red Army. He spent the rest of his childhood in Britain and grew up in the centre of a community of Holocaust survivors. He has since written extensively on the psychological implications of trauma relating to genocide whilst also working as a GP.
Pupils from East Renfrewshire High Schools spoke of their learnings through the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Anne Frank Trust and also paid tribute to the late Henry Wuga MBE.
East Renfrewshire Provost, Councillor Mary Montague, who welcomed everyone at the memorial said: 'Our diverse and multi-cultural population helps make East Renfrewshire the wonderful place it is and we're proud to be home to Scotland's largest Jewish population. We continue to enjoy a strong relationship with the local Jewish community, so marking Holocaust Memorial Day every year is something extremely important to us all. Listening to Dr Garwood talk of the trauma he experienced was truly harrowing but it is only right that we listen and never forget what they went through.'
