Today marks Holocaust Memorial Day – a day where communities across the world come together to remember the devastation that the Holocaust caused, but also the horror of subsequent genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, and the wider impact of any type of prejudice and persecution based on colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic group.
The Bedford Clanger went along to the local commemorations, the first part of which was held at Russell Park. Underneath the Anne Frank Tree, a multi-faith ceremony organised by the Bedford Council of Faiths took place. The Mayor and other councillors joined representatives of all local faith leaders to read the Statement of Commitment , along with an extract from the diary of Anne Frank. A candle was lit at the end of the service, and everyone joined in the Bedford Council of Faith’s Peace Mantra.
It is always remarkable reading the words of Anne Frank – it’s such a striking thought that so many years later the diary of a 15 year old girl would be read around the world, both as a tribute to her endurance and as a tangible representation of the loss the Holocaust. The passage from Anne’s journal included the lines:
“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them, because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death…and yet, when I look up to the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too, will end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more.”
That extraordinary balance of solemn reflection and enduring optimism was echoed in the spirit of the ceremony that followed, led by the University of Bedford’s chaplain, Cass Howes, at the Corn Exchange. A celebration of the diversity and freedom of our society, but also an acknowledgement of the terrible journey endured by so many on the path to the freedom that we enjoy today.
‘Journeys’ is the theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day:
“Some we take, some we endure. The journeys we take shape us.”
Bedford marked the occasion with beautiful singing; from the always life-affirming Music4Memory choir, who sang arrangements of We are Sailing and The Rivers of Babylon; from the girls from The Goldington Academy, who sang a wonderful song called ‘Falling Slowly’, and from the Polish Promethidion group who sang and performed poem by a Polish writer, Krzysztof Kamil Baczynski, called Elegy on a Polish Boy. Baczynski was a promising poet, who was killed in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, at the age of 23, and the group read his work with great feeling, in both Polish and English.
The Mayor closed the ceremony by reading from Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela, a timely reminder of how devastating discrimination has been, so recently, but it was poignant for the service to end on a note of hope and optimism, rather than despair.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela.
