An exhibition marking Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January), is an opportunity for the community to come together in remembrance of all those killed but also to reflect on the future.
So says the Revd Nathan Ward, Vicar of St Margaret’s in Rainham, where the exhibition is being held,
The exhibition features the story of 89-year-old Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, who spent years in hiding and internment in Auschwitz.
After her return home she visited the place where her brother Heinz and father had hidden – they had perished tragically only weeks before the liberation – and discovered over thirty paintings by her brother concealed beneath the floorboards.
The exhibition tells the story of Eva and Heinz and the artistic talent he cultivated in hiding.
Alongside the exhibition the church will also be showing extracts from an interview with Eva Schloss and Bishop Simon Burton-Jones, the Bishop of Tonbridge, which were filmed last month.
Revd Nathan Ward says:
“Millions of people around the world are remembering those killed in the Holocaust and in subsequent genocides and it’s right that we do that. But this exhibition isn’t just about looking to the past but about ensuring that we challenge every day prejudice and the language of hatred that is still in use throughout our local communities today."
‘The Promise’, which is suitable for children as well as adults, opens at St Margaret’s Church on Monday 21 January.
The exhibition is on loan to the church from The Jewish Museum, London.
*Photograph by Roger Vaughan (used with permission) showing Eva Schloss with Anne Frank (her step sister) image in background