Today, our Senior School assembly focused on the Holocaust Memorial Day.
Staff and students were moved by a presentation, led by Mr Clarke, who said, “When people ask me ‘Why is it important to study history?’ I remind them of the quote by philosopher, George Santayana, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'”
Mr Clarke began the assembly with a short video featuring Holocaust survivor Susan Pollack, who told a unique story of surviving genocide.
The twist in the story was that Susan was not speaking of her own experience but that of a man from Sudan who had survived the genocide in his country in 2009, and which is still going on to this day.
Mr Clarke then went onto say that atrocities still occur all over the world and people are still persecuted for their religion, race and sexuality, citing two recent news stories of anti-semitism.
He emphasised how important the Holocaust Memorial Trust’s message of ‘Stand Together’ was and how ignorance must not be tolerated.
The assembly closed with a very moving presentation of photos from the Holocaust with descriptions of the events.
