Every year the Anne Frank Trust holds an Annual Lunch in support of Holocaust Memorial Day, which brings together supporters from across the UK to hear directly from the young people the Trust works with, to share their experiences and demonstrate to supporters how the programme has affected their lives.
The 27th of January is Holocaust Memorial Day, the date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945.
Each year Memorial Day has a theme, this year’s theme is Ordinary People, the subject explores the role everyday people played in the events leading up to the Holocaust, in the persecution of others and the choice they make:
“Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses – and ordinary people were victims”.
From the HMD website
The Anne Frank Trust is an education charity, inspired by Anne Frank’s experience that seeks to provide young people with the understanding and skills necessary to challenge and confront prejudice. The charity focuses on young people aged 9-15, running a programme of workshops in schools and online which enables young people to gain insight into key ideas such as stereotyping, unconscious bias and bullying.
The Portal Trust is a long-term supporter of the Anne Frank Trust and our Chairman and Deputy Chair, Sophie Fernandes and Denise Jones were proud to attend and support the Anne Frank Trust’s Annual Lunch to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.