Children remembered

Pupils of Byron Wood and Firs Hill Schools held a ceremony in Abbeyfield Park on 29 January as part of a series of events across the city to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Executive Director of Education Jonathan Crossley-Holland led the ceremony and pupils read extracts from Anne Frank’s Diary and First They Came For The Jews (Pastor Martin Niemoller). A silver birch tree was planted in remembrance of the child victims of the Holocaust and other genocides. The silver birch was chosen because this was the species that Anne Frank could see out of the window of the annexe where she spent her days in hiding.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. 

Then they came for the communists 
and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist. 

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist. 

Then they came for me -
and by then there was no one left to speak out for me. 

Pastor Martin Niemoller