Commemoration of Auschwitz liberation, held at Liverpool Street’s Kindertransport memorial
Liverpool Street Station saw a very moving event on Monday 27th January to mark the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Concentration camp, and Holocaust Memorial Day, with a sizeable gathering around the “Kindertransport – The Arrival” memorial in the station entrance on Liverpool Street – contrasting the positivity of the 1938/39 Kindertransport arrivals at Liverpool Street with the later horrfific situation found by soldiers arriving at Auschwitz in 1945.
Family members and friends held up photograph panels from The Yad Vashem Exhibition entitled “Auschwitz A Place On Earth”, which depicts the only known visual representation of the arrival of a transport of Jews at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Visitors brought photographs of family and others they identify with who were affected by the holocaust. Candles were lit and attendees were encouraged to say a few words and/or light a candle in their memory.
The atmosphere was reflective and sombre, with emotions apparent as attendees met up with both old and new friends, and reflected on what happened. The Kindertransport memorial, which commemorates the nearly 10,000 Jewish children who arrived at Liverpool Street station in 1938-39 to escape persecution, provided a poignant focal point and setting for the evening. The children were placed in British foster homes, hostels, schools, and farms. Often, they were the only members of their families who survived the Holocaust.
Many passing rail passengers stopped for a few minutes to watch the proceedings with the Liverpool Street British Transport Police also supporting in the background. It felt a special privilege to be present at the event, with people whose family members were saved by the Kindertransport and also those who lost relatives in the horrors of Auschwitz.
As the world sees continued conflict in many places, let us not forget the lessons from the Holocaust.
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