I was fascinated to read about this event taking place not in Bristol but in Newcastle-under-Lyme (Staffs.) on the 27th of January. Yizkor is the name given to the memorial service in Judaism.
A special performance of the documentary play Yizkor will take place to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The play was developed with support from the Imperial War Museum and Val and Ibi Ginsberg, two Holocaust survivors who worked with the New Vic Theatre, supporting our work combating racism, fascism, prejudice and discrimination. Their voices are heard throughout the play, and bear witness to the realities of the Holocaust.
Val’s and Ibi’s personal pledge as Holocaust survivors to remember those who perished, and to work towards a world free from hatred and prejudice continues to be realised beyond their deaths through the Yizkor play.
Before the play there will be a presentation by Dr Caroline Sturdy-Colls from Staffordshire University, who was featured in the BBC documentary Revealing the hidden graves of the Holocaust: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16657363
The themes of the play are as relevant today as ever they where, with the rise of extremism racism and hatred. The words of the play are made up of those written by teenagers experiencing directly the events of the Holocaust.
The play is an opportunity for us to come together and make our own individual and collective pledges, to not be bystanders in the face of hatred and prejudice, but to find our way to uphold our own humanity and that of others.
– See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/events/yizkor-70th-anniversary-liberation-auschwitz-performance#sthash.OOTrK0P6.dpuf
