Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey joined the Shabbat service at Kingston Liberal Synagogue for the commemoration of its three Czech Torah scrolls.

The scrolls are on loan from the Memorial Trust and the annual service remembers the Czechia communities of Tabor, Rychnov and Blatna all of whom perished in the Holocaust.

KLS Rabbi Rene Pfertzel said: “The scrolls were used by communities in Bohemia and Moravia, two regions where Jews had been living for almost a thousand years before the entire Czech Jewish community was annihilated by the Nazis.”

Sir Ed Davey the MP for Kingston and Surbiton spoke movingly about the importance of remembering the lost communities and his own experience of visiting Auschwitz and added:

“The last few weeks have been shocking and awful. I want to thank Liberal Judaism for giving voice to humanity.”

He pointed out that during the debate in Parliament last week he had attended the film put together by the IDF from camera footage of the October 7th Hamas massacre.

“I never want to see anything like that again. It was the most shocking thing I have ever seen. We must remember them all the time in our thoughts and find a way forward to the peace we want and the security we want,” he added.

(Picture shows Sir Ed Davey with Cllr Richard Williams, Mayor of Elmbridge, Cllr Diane White, Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston. Temporary Assistant Chief Constable (T/ACC) Alison Barlow.)