Posted on January 31, 2024
A town fell silent as dozens of people turned out to remember others during a poignant service.
Near to where hundreds of young Jewish refugees had arrived in 1938, the people of Lowestoft gathered during a special ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
The annual service of remembrance was held inside The Parcels Office at Lowestoft Railway Station on Saturday.
The event, organised by Lowestoft Town Council, reflected upon the town’s role in the ‘kindertransport’ program, while millions of people who died in the Holocaust, and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur were remembered.
With the theme of this year’s event being ‘Fragility of Freedom’, the commemorative service also marked the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The mayor of Lowestoft, Sonia Barker, welcomed attendees before a series of reflective words from MP Peter Aldous and Lowestoft town councillors Wendy Brooks and Andy Pearce.
The service also featured poems and readings from high school students at Benjamin Britten Music Academy, Ormiston Denes Academy, East Point Academy and Pakefield High School in Lowestoft.