North Tyneside marked 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz with a week of special commemorative events.
North Tyneside’s Holocaust Memorial Day organising committee worked with local schools to raise awareness of the Holocaust and this year; more schoolchildren than ever took part in the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day.
To mark the occasion St Mary’s Lighthouse, in Whitley Bay, was illuminated purple, the colour used by the national Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, on Monday 27 January.
And on Friday 31 January, the official event was held at the council’s Quadrant offices at Cobalt Business Park.
The event, hosted by North Tyneside’s Elected Mayor Norma Redfearn CBE, was also attended by veterans, religious leaders, councillors and officers, as well as local schools and representatives from many local organisations.
Speakers included Rabbi Aaron Lipsey, presentations from 15 North Tyneside schools and a keynote speech from a member of the Jewish community relaying personal family experience of the Holocaust.
Material from Dr Muller of Newcastle University was on display in the reception area at Quadrant East throughout the week. The display, entitled “Children under the Nazi’s”, looks at the impact upon children’s lives under a Nazi regime and also looks at the lives of children of various nationalities and faiths.