Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister of Scotland, addressed Holocaust Educational Trust Ambassadors, teachers and Members of the Scottish Parliament last night at a reception in recognition of the incredible work of the Trust’s Ambassadors across Scotland.
The reception was also an opportunity for Members of the Scottish Parliament to learn more about the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project, a four-part course which gives post-16 students the chance to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. The course receives funding from the Scottish government and, since 2006, over 3,000 students and teachers have been able to take part. On completion of the course the students become Ambassadors for the Trust.
Students and teachers travelled from across Scotland to attend the event. Scottish Ambassadors Rebecca Quinn, from Dundee, and Gemma Grier, from Motherwell, shared their experience of the Lessons from Auschwitz Project. Gemma also read from her piece ‘Hannah’, a reflection of her visit to Auschwitz which won her the Scottish School’s Young Writer of the Year Award 2015.
Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister of Scotland said:
“One way of working to ensure that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again, is to ensure that it is never forgotten. The Holocaust Educational Trust has made the act of remembrance its mission and it should be commended for that.
“We can and should be very proud of the diversity of modern Scotland, but we can never take the diversity and tolerance of our society for granted. We must continue to make it clear that anti-Semitism, racism, or discrimination of any other kind is unacceptable. The work of the Holocaust Educational Trust, by making people reflect on the horrors of the past, plays an important part in spurring us on to create a better future.”
Karen Pollock MBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust said:
“Thanks to Scottish Government funding, the Holocaust Educational Trust has so far been able to take over 3,000 students and teachers from all over Scotland to visit the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. We now have thousands of Scottish Ambassadors committed to educating others about the horrors that took place during one of the darkest periods of our history. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration and death camps and, as fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors are able to share their story, the dedication of these Ambassadors to ensuring their stories are not forgotten is more important than ever.”