Council marks Holocaust Memorial Day
We hosted this year's Holocaust Memorial Day event on Monday 22 January.
Published 23 January 2024
The memorial event, held at the Calderwood Lodge and St Clare's Primary School joint campus, was an evening of music and stories which highlighted the true horror of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.
As well as moving music performances by East Renfrewshire school pupils, Geraldine Shenkin told her mother's harrowing story. Marianne Grant survived the Holocaust after being imprisoned in three successive concentration camps, including Auschwitz, before moving to Glasgow and then settling in to a new life in Newton Mearns. She was awarded the freedom of East Renfrewshire in 2003 in recognition of her efforts to raise Holocaust awareness.
Pupils from St Ninian's and Mearns Castle High Schools spoke of their learnings through the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Anne Frank Trust.
East Renfrewshire Provost, Councillor Mary Montague, who welcomed everyone at the memorial said: 'East Renfrewshire is home to Scotland's largest Jewish population and we enjoy a wonderful relationship with the Jewish community, so marking Holocaust Memorial Day every year is something extremely important to us all. Listening to Geraldine talk of the trauma experienced by Marianne Grant was truly harrowing but it is only right that we listen and never forget what they went through. I had the pleasure and privilege of knowing Marianne and admired her talent, humility and warmth of personality.'
