Chichester marks Holocaust Memorial Day

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Ten years ago – 70 years after the liberation of Auschwitz – a group called Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial Day was born.

It will be marking the anniversary with performances of Last Train to Tomorrow, by Carl Davis, at the Minerva Theatre.

The musical piece tells the story of thousands of children who fled Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938/39.

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Thanks to Sir Nicholas Winton (1909-2015), 669 youngsters made it to safety from Prague after being put on Kindertransport rescue trains to London.

Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial DayChichester Marks Holocaust Memorial Day
Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial Day

One of those souls was the cousin of Chichester District Council chairman Clare Apel, whose family lost dozens of relatives in Auschwitz and other concentration camps.

During a meeting of the full council on Tuesday (January 21), Mrs Apel spoke about how she and her husband Ralph, along with Trevor James and former councillor Martin Bell, launched the Chichester organisation with an inter-faith service.

Events have been held in the years since, in the cathedral, the theatre, and even the House of Commons.

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Determined to make children aware of the horrors faced both past and present, workshops are organised and films shown at the New Park Cinema, educating them about racism, human rights abuses, genocide and the Holocaust.

Clare Apel, chairman of Chichester District CouncilClare Apel, chairman of Chichester District Council
Clare Apel, chairman of Chichester District Council

Deputy leader Jonathan Brown thanked the trustees and volunteers for their work over the past ten years.

Mr Brown used to live in Syria and has friends in the country.

He told the meeting: “On December 8, the Assad regime fell and we saw in real time what the liberation of concentration camps looks like, and the anguish of hundreds of thousands of people searching desperately for news of what had become of their loved ones.

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“I’ve no doubt that Syria’s future will be difficult – but there is hope at last. And I’m very grateful to Chichester Marks Holocaust Memorial Day for continuing to work to keep modern horrors in our minds.”

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