On Friday, Buckingham commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day in Bourton Park. The ceremony involved poetry and moving tributes.
Pupils from the Buckingham School and George Grenville Primary School attended the ceremony and distributed hand painted leaves sharing poems based on the Holocaust Memorial Day’s theme of The Fragility of Freedom.
Town Mayor, Cllr. Schaefer began the event.
She said: “We recognise that the Holocaust shook the foundations of modern civilisation. Its unprecedented character and horror will always hold universal meaning. We believe the Holocaust must have a permanent place in our nation’s and community’s collective memory.”
The Town Council worked with The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust in planning the event. The Trust is a charity which works to raise awareness of Holocaust Memorial Day. It is hoped that annual events in Bourton Park around January 27 will provide a meaningful opportunity for attendees to consider how we can make our community a better place today, free from hatred, prejudice and discrimination.
Members of Buckingham Town Council’s Town Centre and Event’s Committee agreed to install a memorial stone as a focal point for people to come together and remember, to learn about the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and the genocides that followed.
Cllr. Jon Harvey of Buckingham Town Council read the powerful poem Refugee Blues by WH Auden. Ms. Sarah Katz of the Milton Keynes and District Reform Synagogue read Elie Wiesel’s poem ‘Never Shall I Forget’.
Town Mayor Of Buckingham, Cllr. Anja Schaefer closed proceedings as she said: “We owe it to those who were knurled and persecuted in the Holocaust and every genocide since to be ever vigilant against the danger of future persecution and atrocities.”
