Devon gathers to remember victims of Holocaust

People in Devon marked have Holocaust Memorial Day with a number of events taking place across the county.

As well as it being the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, it is also the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.

There was a ceremony at Exeter Cathedral on Monday morning, with other events around Exeter, including at Exeter Synagogue, as well as Plymouth.

Cynthia Hollinsworth, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor, said she felt a "huge weight of responsibility to share my mother's story".

Her mother, a Polish Jew, was imprisoned in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau.

While she survived the war, her husband and many other relatives were murdered.

Mrs Hollinsworth, who moved to Carbis Bay, Cornwall, in 2019, speaks to students throughout the county's secondary schools about the Holocaust.

She told the BBC: "I think back to everything that mummy went through, and all the family that she lost, and all the goodness that was lost."

Mrs Hollinsworth said her mother had not revealed her full story to the family until much later in her life to shield them, and because "she also wanted to focus on building a better life and hope for the future".

She said it was "hugely important" to "preserve those stories of the Holocaust" through events such as Holocaust Memorial Day for that future generations.

Exeter Synagogue hosted guided visits for schools and the event finished with a candle-lighting ceremony hosted by Exeter's Jewish community at the Guildhall.

The University of Plymouth also held an event at lunchtime, with a performance of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op 53 Waldstein by concert pianist Dr Robert Taub.

The university said the music was composed during one of Beethoven's darkest moments and was "a testament to resilience and creativity born from adversity".

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