Review: Sunderland Holocaust Memorial Evening - a much needed antidote to a less than stellar 2017

The perfect venue - Sunderland Minster by Mark Tyers

“The holocaust reminds us of what happens when good people do nothing”

This was sentence with which Marta Joseph, daughter of a holocaust survivor, chose to end her talk about her fathers harrowing experiences to warm applause from a packed Sunderland Minster on a cold Monday evening in January. The occasion? Sunderland's 2018 public commemoration of the Holocaust.

The memorial evening was a visceral success on many different levels, a great addition to the events nationwide marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the USSR. The turnout was extraordinary - so packed was the church that extra chairs had to be taken out and placed around the edges of the pews as people were coming in. So was the diversity. People of all ages, races and religions were present, from elderly nuns, to assylum seekers, to Redby primary schools's choir who stole the show with their rendition of Labi Siffre's 'Something inside so strong'. They also read out pastor Martin Niemoller famous speech:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out /Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out / Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out/ Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me / and there was no one left to speak for me”

Representing Sunderland Inter-Faith Forum - Zaf Iqbal

As an event it was a beautiful and simply choreographed public outpouring of thought and emotion structured around readings, music and prayer. Sunderland University and Caedmon choirs both performed as did young solo violinist David Bierman with a heart-tearing rendition of the theme song from Schindler's List. Some of the “great and the good” were also present- readings were heard from the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear; Professor Peter Fidler, Arch Deacon Stewart Baines and Deputy Mayor Lynda Scanlan.

The evening did not simply dwell on the Holocaust, Rwanda, the Kmer Rouge or other past genocides. The plight of the Rohingya refugees facing their own present day genocide in Burma was also discussed. The church proved to be a perfect venue, enhanced by a display of photographs of people with Down Syndrome, curated by Down Syndrome NE. This was poignant beause the Nazis also tried to eliminate the disabled as well as the Jews.

Perhaps most importantly the evening was a much needed antidote to Sunderland's less-than-stellar 2017, a year which saw it gain something of a national reputation as a place of intolerance, of being anti-European in the wake of it's vote for Brexit. It also saw Britain's most infamous racist; Tommy Robinson use a local rape case to whip-up hatred against Muslims and recruit new members to his latest far-right group – the Football Lads Alliance. This event demonstrated that many Sunderland residents welcome diversity, oppose racism and actively make common cause with their neighbours, regardless of religion or culture.

Sunderland Inter-Faith Forum and all the performers and attendees at this event deserve considerable congratulations for coming together to put on an event which surely must become an important and established fixture on Sunderland's cultural calendar. Here's to hoping next year will be even bigger and better and that it's other events, such as the inter-faith walk continue to flourish.