Ceremony to remember Holocaust victims

The millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis were remembered by the people of Great Yarmouth yesterday in a moving ceremony at the Caister Jewish Cemetery.

The millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis were remembered by the people of Great Yarmouth yesterday in a moving ceremony at the Caister Jewish Cemetery.

Representatives from the borough council, including mayor Tony Smith and managing director Richard Packham, Yarmouth MP Tony Wright and half a dozen people gathered in the Ormesby Road cemetery to pay their respects to the victims of the Holocaust.

At noon The Rev Chris Terry the team rector of Yarmouth based at St Nicholas Church performed a service of remembrance.

Mr Terry said: “To survivors the Holocaust remains real and ever present but for others the passage of time might make the Holocaust seem a part of history that is best forgotten.

“Keeping alive the memory of all who died in the camps is important because it makes us confront the questions what happened? How did it happen? How could it happen? Could it happen again?

“By this simple act of remembrance we honour all who died and pledge ourselves to stand up against the tyranny that seeks to deny the humanity of any of our brothers and sisters.”

As well as laying wreaths, flowers and stones on a Jewish grave, the group shared bread and heard the Jewish prayer of Kaddish.

The service finished with some words written on the walls of cellar where Jews hid to try and escape the Nazis.

It said: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining, I believe in love even when I do not feel it, I believe in God even when he is silent.”