University Hosts Holocaust Memorial Vigil

On 31 January, the University of St Andrews hosted its annual Holocaust Memorial Day Vigil. This year's vigil theme, ‘Bridging Generations,’ included speeches and performances by the St Andrews Madrigal Group and university students, as well as a guest speaker from the Holocaust Educational Trust, Gillian Field.

University Chaplain Donald MacEwan began by introducing the ‘Bridging Generations’ theme and invited University of St Andrews Principal and Vice-Chancellor Dame Sally Mapstone to speak before the crowd.

“This year’s theme, Bridging Generations, invites reflection on transmission, on how remembrance is carried forward as direct testimony gives way to inheritance, and as knowledge takes new forms in each successive generation,” Mapstone said.

MacEwan then invited Field to the podium, who spoke about how her parents survived the Holocaust via the Kindertransport, a programme that brought about 10,000 refugee children from Nazi Germany to Great Britain from 1938 to 1940. She shared stories, videos, and artefacts of her parents’ experiences.

“We like to say that the Nazi plan didn’t succeed,” Field said. “Our family is still going. My sister and I are grandmothers to four grandchildren.”

The St Andrews Madrigal Group then performed ‘A Walk to Caesarea’ by Hannah Szenes, a Hebrew poem also known as ‘Eli Eli.’ 

Madrigal president Hanna Ward said understanding the deeper significance of the piece strengthened its impact: “A lot of us have sung this piece before. The words and the meaning are really beautiful.”

Two students, Lilly Elliasevich and Cecelia Allentuck, shared a speech and a poem, respectively. Allentuck said her poem reflected on generations of Jewish families and her own connection to Judaism.

“I think the main purpose of [my poem] was those three words: be good, kind, and compassionate,” Allentuck said. “I think those are always good reminders.”

Assistant University Chaplain Bill Shackman closed the event by lighting six candles, representing the six million Jewish people who died in the Holocaust, and reciting the Kaddish, a traditional Jewish prayer for the dead. He shared messages of hope to be carried into next year’s vigil.

“The Holocaust claimed the lives of over six million Jews who were murdered along with Roma, homosexuals, [the] disabled, political dissidents, and others,” said Shackman. “The lessons to be learned are a stark moral warning: indifference, hatred, and dehumanisation can lead to horrific violence.” 

He continued, “Next year’s Holocaust Memorial Day will give us yet another opportunity to reflect on how best to respond to humanity’s capacity for evil and how to keep the world safe from genocide and hatred.”

Image provided by Joshua Pantano