Horndean pupils' memorial flame receives national recognition at Holocaust Memorial Day

The students’ memorial flame design commemorates the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp which witnessed the massacre of more than one million Jewish people.

Aptly named, Stand Together, the design used personal letters from people at the camp to depict silhouetted images of some of the camp’s inmates. The letters have been burnt around the edges to ‘symbolise no matter what happens their voices live on’.

Year 11 pupil and project design lead, Kian Davis, said: ‘My inspiration came from the stories told by the survivors of the Holocaust and also the soldiers who carry the stories of those who cannot tell their own. I think it’s extremely important to keep their stories alive, to remember them. So I wanted to highlight that when working on this piece of artwork.’

Fellow designer, Andrea Marr, added: ‘The involvement of the students in the Auschwitz 75 Memorial Flames project was an opportunity to take inspiration from the past and to show how we felt as a school community towards the dangers of prejudice and discrimination in today’s society.’

The pupils beat competition from more than 300 educational establishments across the country including colleges and universities. The art work is to be officially unveiled at the Holocaust Memorial Day in London on January 27, 2020. The design will join 74 other images on display with each piece of artwork having been chosen annually to represent every year since the liberation of Auschwitz.

Panel judge Kathleen Soriano said: ‘Each part of the design explores something different, from specific individuals who were imprisoned in concentration camps, to people who helped others escape and the theme of Stand Together. To me, the theme of Stand Together means remembering together and that’s what this project is helping to achieve.’

Horndean headteacher, Julie Summerfield, is proud of the children’s design.

‘This is a fantastic achievement in which pupils have beaten competition from much older students. This piece of artwork represents unity and how the past and present stand together to not forget,’ she said.

As well as commemorating the past, pupils also hope the design can provide an important message for future generations.

Andrea said: ‘We felt that by creating this piece, we could raise awareness about the consequences of hatred and help create a safer future.’