Edmonton MP Andy Love has signed the Book of Commitment in the House of Commons to honour those who perished in the Holocaust ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day next Wednesday.
Andy highlighted the importance of paying tribute to the remarkable individuals who survived the appalling events of the Holocaust and have since dedicated their lives to educating younger generations about the dangers of allowing persecution and intolerance to take hold in society.
And he praised local Edmonton schools and organisations for supporting the Holocaust Educational Trust’s ‘Legacy of Hope’ programme, which aims to create a future free from hatred and prejudice through learning. As well as hosting Holocaust survivor, Rudi Oppenheimer, last week, the Gladys Aylward School is due to hold an assembly with Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks and Holocaust survivor, Mala Tribich, on the morning of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Two students from Gladys Aylward School are also due to go on a one-day visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland as part of the Holocaust Educational Trust ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project in the spring. In 2006, Andy accompanied two Edmonton County School pupils on the same visit which he found deeply affecting. Andy feels strongly about enabling as many young people as possible to learn from the history of the Holocaust that prejudice in any form is unacceptable.
Commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day, Andy said…
“We have a responsibility to pass on the history of the Holocaust to young people and to ensure that we honour the memory of both those who perished and those who survived.
“I’m proud that so many young people in Edmonton are taking an active part in marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Berkenau and remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust. It’s important to bear in mind that rejecting prejudice is as relevant and as important now and it was 65 years ago.”