Imagine waking up to find that the neighbours you have known all your life, now walk past you without stopping, now forbid their children from playing with you. Imagine that you have done nothing wrong, yet you are to be punished nonetheless and no one will stand by you.
This Sunday, the 27th of January is Holocaust Memorial Day. The Holocaust was a terrible time in human history. It happened leading up to and during World War II, when Germany was trying to conquer the rest of Europe. Germany was led by a man named Adolf Hitler. Hitler did not like Jewish people and blamed them for Germany losing the First World War in 1918. He decided that in order to make the world better, he needed to get rid of the Jewish people and many other races of people that he didn’t think were worthy.
6 million Jews, including children, were persecuted by the Nazis because of who they were and what they believed in. They were stripped off their right to speak, to have their own home, to work, to attend school and instead of their name they were given a number. What should be learned from this experience? It is the duty of our generation to have solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the poor, the lonely and the sick. In our cities, towns and villages wherever we live, there are other people around us. These people have different backgrounds, occupations and lives. We need to respect these different communities so that we all live a better life.
The children of our class Year 5.1 tried to pass this message to the whole school during a special assembly. In class we had a very mature discussion on this sensitive topic where the children asked a lot of questions and empathised with the people who were forced to live through these cruel experiences of the Holocaust.
The question that still remains … How did Hitler manage to convince millions of people to follow along blindly and not fight back? Let us stop history from repeating itself.
Ms.Daniela and Ms.Priscilla Year 5.1
St Ignatius College, Patri Ġużè Delia, Siġġiewi Primary 