Today, on what is Holocaust Memorial Day, we welcomed author, Lis Kessler into school for a visit which had been organised in partnership with
‘Simply Books’ in Bramhall.
The visit began with a book discussion group where several girls, who had read the book came together to ask Liz questions about the book, the characters and the research she had undertaken in order to produce such an in-formative and emotive novel.
Liz explained that the inspiration for the book was her father who escaped the Holocaust with his family and came to live with a family in Chester. The family took them under their wing and helped them build their lives away from the Nazi regime. The girls asked thought-provoking questions about the characters and Kessler’s intent as to what she wanted the reader to feel about the characters.
The afternoon was then followed by a talk to all of Year 9 up to Year 13 about the book followed by ques-tions and the opportunity for Liz to sign copies of her book.
We have recently welcomed two people who have close links to the Holocaust to school and they both say the same thing. The Holocaust didn’t start with the gas chambers but with prejudice and with people who were not prepared to say ’no’ . They hope by sharing their stories we will recognise the importance of respect, inclusion and kindness and that if we see something that is unjust we will stand up for what is right.
