The theme for this assembly is courage which is especially topical considering that Saturday 27 January was Holocaust Memorial Day.
Holocaust remembrance is a topic which is very important to me, due to my family’s connection to the events which happened in the 1940s. When my great-great-grandfather fled Nazi Germany in 1940 he changed his surname from the Jewish Isaacs to Jansen in order to hide within the Netherlands. Tragically, his wife and brother did not make it out of Germany and were killed by the Nazis. This is just one example of how millions of people were affected by the Holocaust and due to the horrible nature of the prosecution which happened, with over 6 million Jews killed, there are those who suggest we should try to forget the horrors of the past. However, I believe, remembrance is of the utmost importance due to the lessons that we must take from such a shocking event. It stands as a stark example of how prejudice and hate can spread in society if left unchecked. We must all actively strive to stop the spread of hate by standing up against any occurrence no matter how minor.
The Holocaust also brings with it stories of courage, those brave men and women who stood up to the oppressive regime with which they were faced. One such example is the story of Johan van Hulst, a Dutch teacher, who saved the lives of over 600 Jewish children between 1942 and 1943 by hiding them in baskets so they could not be found. The punishment he would have faced if he had been discovered was death and yet he was courageous and did the right thing no matter the consequence. So too must we show courage in the face of hate and oppression even if it is on a small day-to-day scale, as the impact of many people doing courageous acts is colossal.
I would like to end on a quote from Simon Weisenthal an Austrian Holocaust survivor: “For evil to flourish it only required good men to do nothing.”
Peter Jansen
Senior Prefect