As part of our schools Development Education for Justice strand, students and teachers from Margaret Aylward C.C welcomed Lynn Jackson (director of the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland) to our school where she spoke very movingly about the Holocaust.
Lynn explained how anti-Semitism began as bullying in the streets, then was written into law (the Nuremburg Laws) and finally reached its grim finale in death camps across Europe.
She told the individual stories of escape, resistance, survival and tragedy.
Lynn drew parallels between the rise of anti-Semitism and events that are unfolding in the world today.The message that students and teachers took from this event is that we all have the power to speak out against injustice. She used the example of Pastor Niemöller's poem to illustrate the danger of staying silent in the face of injustice.
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 me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller
