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Researching her family history, Sigrid Falkenstein found her aunt’s name – Anna Lehnkering – on a list of 30,000 people who were murdered by the Nazis as part of the Aktion T4 project in the year 1940/1941. This spurred Sigrid on to find out more both about her Aunt and Aktion T4, the Nazi programme for sterilising and murdering those with mental or physical disabilities.

Rudolf Brazda was the last known concentration camp survivor deported specifically for homosexuality. Twice imprisoned for homosexuality, he was deported to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1942 where he was subject to forced labour for 32 months.

Holocaust survivor Raphael Lemkin coined the word ‘genocide’ and helped establish the term in international law. Shocked and saddened by massacres throughout history, as well as the murder of his family by the Nazis, he longed for accountability for deplorable acts committed by countries within their own borders, campaigning tirelessly to reach his goal.

Vera Schaufeld MBE, formerly Vera Lowyova, was saved by a man who refused to stand by, Sir Nicholas Winton. She was born in Prague in 1930. In May 1939, following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, Vera was told that she must move to England on her own. She was only nine years old.

This Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), we will come together to learn and remember. One way to engage in meaningful conversation around HMD is to share and listen to survivor experiences. This blog will show you five different ways you could use survivor experiences in your HMD activity this year.