A writer and former teacher is set to speak at a Holocaust Memorial Day event later this morning.
Ruth Barnett, 81, will be among speakers at the Holocaust Memorial Garden event in Valentines Park, Cranbrook Road, Ilford, at 11am.
The day, to remember Holocaust victims, marks the liberation of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz Birkenau, in 1945.
Ruth, a Jew who escaped to England on the Kindertransport when she was four, will be talking about the victims of the Holocaust, including Roma and traveller gypsies and other victims of genocide around the world.
The psychotherapist from West Hampstead, whose latest book is called Love, Hate and Indifference: The Slide Into Genocide, called on young people to lead the way in preventing atrocities.
“It’s indifference to racism which allows genocide to build up,” she said.
“The slogan for this year’s event is ‘don’t stand by’ and the majority of people are bystanders to it.
“We need our younger generations to be thinking for themselves. I don’t want to teach them what to think but I want to encourage them to question everything.”
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