More than 900 school pupils in Kingston-upon-Thames attended events marking Holocaust Memorial Day at the local Progressive and Orthodox synagogues.

The educational workshops were organised by Kingston Liberal Synagogue (KLS) and Kingston, Surbiton and District Synagogue (KSDS), with funding by the Royal Borough of Kingston Grant.

They marked the 19th year of an annual remembrance project run together by the two communities, with the purpose of sharing knowledge about the Holocaust.

The nine key speakers included four Holocaust survivors and adult descendants. They each gave a talk after which the students were able to ask questions. This was followed by a film, Secret Lives, about people in Nazi-occupied countries Kiwho risked their own lives to hide Jews during the Holocaust.

At the end of the workshops, the attendees reflected on what they had learnt and wrote postcards to the survivors. These workshops are not just a history lesson: students considered what freedoms they value and the importance of respecting differences of race and religion.

One testimony that had a particular impact on the children was that of survivor Marcel Ladenheim BEM (pictured with three participants from Coombe Girls’ School).

One pupil said: “Stories like Marcel’s need to be told more so people are more educated and so that nothing like that happens again.”

Almost all of those attending were non-Jewish and, for many, the workshops were their first experiences inside a synagogue.

The events were held in the two synagogues as well as at two of the participating schools.