Remembering the Holocaust

Yesterday at the Town Hall I attended a memorial event for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides, organised by West Berkshire Council.

Representatives from the Jewish and Muslim religions, gypsies and the disabled spoke, the latter being the lesser known victims of the Holocaust. The main speaker was Malcolm Harper, who has lived and worked in dozens of countries, including Cambodia after the genocides there. Also present were pupils from St Bartholomew and Trinity Schools, several of whom read out thought provoking poetry by Karen Gershon, Ben Okri, the Rev Francois Murenzi and Martin Niemoller. The theme for the meeting was 'same but different'; our common humanity uniting rather than dividing us.