Report by Kate Fitzgerald & Georgina Smyth (4L):
On Sunday 29th January, a group of TY’s, along with Ms Potter and Mr Delahunty, attended the 10th National Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration in the Mansion House, Dublin.
We were offered the amazing opportunity to read out names from the Scroll of Names. 
Three students from our school – Adrianne Grebenkin, Lucy Agnew and Mary Gorman – were lucky enough to do this, along with students from Stratford College, Gorey Community School and Larkin Community School.
The evening began with introductory remarks from MC Yanky Fachler, and then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Andrew Montague spoke. TDs Lucinda Creighton and Alan Shatter spoke about the Stockholm Declaration and Wannsee respectively.
The keynote address was given by President Michael D Higgins. He gave a moving and stirring speech about how we should never forget the atrocities of the events of the Holocaust.
After a musical interlude, various members of the Jewish community in Ireland – such as Maurice Cohen, chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland – spoke about Kristallnacht, ghettos, slave labour and liberation.
Among those speakers, Holocaust survivors Zoltan Zinn-Collis, Suzi Diamond and Tomi Reichental attended the ceremony and said a few words. They each spoke of the devastation the Holocaust brought and how they had been affected personally. Zoltan Zinn-Collis said that, especially at family events, he was reminded how his whole family had been obliterated. This portion of the evening really affected and moved us.
Next were the victim readings. There were readings for all the various groups of victims in the Holocaust – people with disabilities, Poles, gypsies, homosexuals, black and ethnic minorities, political victims and Christian victims. This was when all of the students read from the Scroll of Names. As the list went on, we, as students who hadn’t really been affected by the Holocaust, couldn’t believe just how many people had been murdered in this horrific occurrence.
The next few speakers, which included Yvonne Altman O’Connor from the Irish Jewish Museum and Peter Cassells, the chairperson of the Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland, spoke about the ‘Second Generation’. This meant the children of Holocaust survivors, and each speaker spoke about how the Holocaust should never be forgotten, as it could easily happen again.
After a haunting minute’s silence and an emotional candle lighting ceremony, Rabbi Zalman Lent and Cantor Alwyn Schulman said the El Malay Rachamim – the Prayer for the Repose of the Souls of the Departed. It was said in both English and Hebrew, which was a beautiful moment of the evening.
The moment that stuck with us from the evening was during the candle lighting ceremony. After each candle had been lit, Mr Fachler would say “We will never forget.” It was a simple phrase but it really resonated with us.
We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and are so grateful that we got the opportunity to experience it. We learned so much that we couldn’t have possibly learned in a classroom and we hope to attend the memorial next year.
