Council leader Una O’Halloran at Islington’s Holocaust Memorial Day event

THERE were moving speeches in the Town Hall on Monday, as attendees gathered together to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.

The theme for this year was “For a Better Future”, with people invited to remember and learn from the Holocaust as well as more recent atrocities and genocides, including in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, Iraq and Cambodia.

Guest speaker Gerry Hahlo told of how his grandfather had escaped from Nazi Germany. Georg Hahlo evaded capture during the attacks in November 1938, and pleaded with police for a permit to travel. He secured a visa to go to Bolivia and ensured his young children came to England on the “Kindertransport” trains.

Mr Hahlo was joined by Evie Griffin, a student from Arsenal’s Sixth Form programme, who told attendees about their educational visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and a Jewish cemetery.

Yiddish songs were performed by the World Harmony Orchestra, whose musicians include refugees.

Councillor Sheila Chapman, Islington’s equalities chief, said: “The testimonies that we heard at our Holocaust Memorial Day event were another poignant, painful reminder of the terrible consequences of intolerance and hatred.

“To create a better future we must learn the lessons from the past – so it’s vitally important that we all educate ourselves on the Holocaust and other atrocities.”

She added: “Islington’s strength is in our diversity, and it is by standing together and making our borough a welcoming place for all that we can create a more equal future.”