The Bishop of Lichfield has led a group on an emotional visit to the National Holocaust Centre.

The Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave at the National Holocaust Museum
The Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave at the National Holocaust Museum

The UK’s only dedicated Holocaust Museum opened in Nottingham in 1995 to remember the millions of victims of the Nazi regime.

The Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave made the trip with a group including school pupils ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday (27th January).

Edith Kurcz Jayne with students from Lichfield Cathedral School
Edith Kurcz Jayne with students from Lichfield Cathedral School

Students Tom Dickinson, Mali Lewelyn-Cook and Josh Rooke, from Lichfield Cathedral School, met survivor Edith Kurcz Jayne whose family fled from Vienna in 1938.

Josh said: “The Museum gave us a real insight into the atrocities which befell the Jewish people in the Second World War.

“I was overwhelmed at the horrific events and suffering, which will resonate with me emotionally for a long time.”

Bishop Michael, who is the Chairman of the national Council of Christians and Jews, added: “It was sobering to go with a group from the Diocese to learn more about how such a horrendous and calculated series of events destroyed the lives of so many ordinary, innocent people.

“But it was also wonderful to hear stories of hope and life, like Edith’s, and to witness dozens of primary school children, who were also visiting, show such an interest through their honest questions to her.”

Displays at the centre also highlighted the 10,000 refugee children who were sent to Britain to escape the Holocaust using Kindertransport from 1938.

The centre was the brainchild of brothers James and Stephen Smith following a visit with their mother Marina to Israel’s national Holocaust museum Yad Vashem in 1991.

It has a memorial garden and two permanent exhibitions, one on the history of the Holocaust and another tactile journey – aimed at younger children – which travels through a boy’s personal experience of the atrocities in World War Two.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.