5th February 2024
There were poignant scenes at South Devon College when students, staff and guests came together to plant an olive tree in a mark of respect and peace to honour Holocaust Memorial Day.
The annual event is a day for everyone to remember the six million Jews – men, women and children – murdered under Nazi Persecution during the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945 in ghettos, mass shootings, concentration camps and death camps. The memorial date marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.
The Memorial Day also pays homage to those killed in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.
This year’s theme for the Memorial Day is ‘Fragility of Freedom’ – highlighting how the freedom of people targeted during genocide is restricted, and how freedom should be valued and strengthened around the world.
The College welcomed representatives from Torbay Friends of Israel – guest speaker Don Fallon recounted fellow group member Rosa’s story, who has personal experience of working as a nurse, midwife and missionary in Israel.
Members of Torbay Friends of Israel (from left) Dawn Fallon, Don Fallon and Barry Maddox
(Picture by College student Chloe Grantham)
Mr Fallon also talked about the history of anti-semitism and how it persists today, related to current world affairs. He also reflected on Kristallnacht, or The Night of Broken Glass, which occured on 9 and 10 November 1938, when Nazi forces ransacked and destroyed Jewish homes, schools, hospitals, businesses and synagogues – in total, there were Jewish fatalities, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
Mr Fallon recounted: “Soon after Hitler came to power in 1933 he introduced anti-Jewish laws each year until 1945 – two thousand anti-Jewish laws altogether.
“They introduced them slowly so the Jewish people would not realise the extent of the Nazi party’s anti-semitism. They burned Jewish books, they were prevented from taking exams in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy or the law. They then stopped them from having the vote.
“They were banned from parks, restaurants, swimming pools, cinemas, concerts, beaches and holiday resorts. All this hatred culminated in Kristallnacht.”
Another speaker Barry Maddox addressed the gathered students and staff to raise awareness of the benefits of Israel, and how many inventions are borne out of Israel. An astonishing 22% of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish and have featured in every prize category, despite the Jewish only making up 0.2% of the world’s population.
One invention from Israel that is now used worldwide is the drip irrigation system. Mr Maddox said: “One day a Jewish man was sitting in the arid desert and he suddenly saw a plant on the ground growing where no other plants were growing. Suddenly on the rock there was a drop of water – one drop appeared every two or three minutes – and from that he invented drip irrigation.
“This invention now enables food growth in hot countries, and means that people have food on their table.”
Dawn Fallon planting the olive tree in memory of the Holocaust victims (Picture by College student Michael Hughes)
The memorial event was completed by the planting of an olive tree, an international symbol of peace, in the College grounds, assisted by Dawn Fallon, which will grow and flourish into a permanent site of reflection symbolising peace, hope and freedom.
Sustainable Development Goals that align with this story:
