Holocaust Memorial Day brought hundreds to The Radclyffe School in Chadderton on Friday for a ceremony that blended student voices with the testimony of survivors’ families, sending a stark warning that hatred remains a present danger.

Headteacher John Cregg opened the joint assembly organised by Oldham Council, Oldham Youth Council, the Oldham Interfaith Forum and Stuart Ferster of the Northern Holocaust Education Group. Deputy Mayor Councillor Eddie Moores told the hall that remembering the Sho’ah is “to ensure these atrocities are never repeated”, before Year 9 pupils—who have studied the Holocaust this term—read personal reflections on how the lessons had changed them.

The Listen to the Earth Project, created by Oldham Youth Service and Oldham Theatre Workshop, screened excerpts from a multimedia piece born out of a five-day visit to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Le Prince, 14, followed with a solo-piano rendition of Jvke’s “Golden Hour” that left the audience silent.

Stuart Ferster then recounted the journey of his father Chaim, imprisoned in seven camps between March 1943 and April 1945 and one of only two immediate family members to survive. “It’s important to tell my father’s story in the hope that we can change humanity for the better, that we can learn to live, to get along together, in peace and harmony,” Ferster said. “There are eight billion people on the planet. We have all got the same colour blood running through our veins.”

Father Phil of the Oldham Interfaith Forum closed the commemoration, urging the borough to confront today’s discrimination with the same vigour applied to historical remembrance. Cregg called hosting the event “a real privilege”, while Chair of Governors Sue Webb stressed that “the few remaining survivors… can tell their story, but that story needs to be passed on by the younger generation.”

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