Be the light in the darkness

Students at Alsop High School recorded a special Act of Collective Worship for Holocaust Memorial Day. The short film, features the testimony of Auschwitz Survivor, Mr Zigi Shipper, BEM was shared with partner primary schools, as part of the Alsop Hope 2021 programme.

Alsop has a partnership with Holocaust Educational Trust as part of their Lessons from Auschwitz Project, and Mr Shipper usually travels to Liverpool to deliver his Auschwitz Survivor testimony.

This year the school were determined to produce a short film to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and to commemorate this important event. Students from Year 12 and 13 speak about why it is so important to remember and to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to. The film also prompts students to consider the ways individuals and communities resisted that darkness to ‘be the light’ before, during and after genocide.

Mr Chris Wilson, headteacher at Alsop High School said: “It is a great privilege for Alsop students to produce this film which includes the inspirational testimony of Mr Zigi Shipper, BEM. His Auschwitz survivor testimony is a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced at the hands of the Nazis during World War Two.”

Mr Peter Bull, head of RE and co-ordinator of HOPE 2021 at Alsop High School said: “We would like to thank Mr Zigi Shipper BEM and his daughters Michelle and Lu for co-operating with the recording of this film. We are also grateful to Mr Chuni Kahan MBE, Holocaust Awareness and Karen Pollock, Holocaust Educational Trust for their assistance.

“We hope that by watching the film and hearing Zigi’s testimony, it will encourage young people to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and make a positive difference in their own lives.”

The Holocaust Memorial Day film is now available for use in Alsop and other schools. It can be downloaded from YouTube via: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQQLnpchn9c

The film is dedicated in memory of Mrs Jeannette Lise Shipper (14-06-1931 – 15-07-2020)