Holocaust survivors and schoolchildren united at Northwood United Synagogue and Northwood and Pinner’s Liberal Synagogue to mark one of the darkest events in history.

Year 9 -13 students from Northwood School, Merchant Taylor’s St Helen’s, Northwood College, and Nower Hill, listened as Holocaust survivors shared their stories, before taking part in an educational workshop relating historical facts about the Holocaust.

Each session concluded with closing reflections from the synagogue’s Rabbi, a minute’s silence and the lighting of a memorial candle.

Survivors who spoke at one of the sessions included Hannah Lewis, Helen Aronson, and Mala Tribich.

When the Nazis invaded Poland, Helen Aronson was evacuated to the war ghetto, Lodz, when she was just 15-years-old. 

Helen and her brother and mother managed to escape, but her father was gassed at a concentration camp.

At 89-years-old, Helen is an active members of the Association of Jewish Refugees and shared her experiences with school children. 

Ms Aronson said: "I hope that my survival, and teaching children from different backgrounds about the horrors of World War II, will remind them that we must all be tolerant, and seek out tyrants, whose aim is to kill for no good reason at all."

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These events were part of the Northwood Holocaust Memorial Day activities, where more than 3,000 pupils representing almost 50 schools from Dacorum, Hertfordshire, the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon, Bedfordshire and Berkshire took part.

Philip Austin, head of the committee behind the Northwood Holocaust Memorial Day events said: “The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 is ‘How can life go on?’. Our 25 wonderful survivor speakers ‎gave their inspiring testimony to the students of how they endured the atrocities and made new lives in the UK.”

If your school or college would like to take part in next year’s event, you can email enquiries@northwoodhmd.org.uk or call 08456 448 006.