A free new resource to help groups hold a Holocaust remembrance has been launched by CUFI-UK for the 80th anniversary year since the end of the Holocaust.
Launched ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, Voices of the Holocaust is an interactive tool for small gatherings to hear about the Holocaust through powerful first-hand accounts of victims, survivors and witnesses.
Voices of the Holocaust is inspired by the idea of Israel’s practice of Zikaron Basalon, Hebrew for ‘Memory in the Living Room’, which is a gathering of friends and invited guests to hear the testimony from a Holocaust survivor followed by group conversation. Voices of the Holocaust is similar, except we hear the Holocaust testimonies through our own voices.
The pack, which is available to receive by post or electronically, includes a Leader’s Guide, scripts for each member of the group, and a set of accompanying memory photos.
The leader uses a leader’s script to narrate the evening, introducing participants in sequence to read one of the first-person testimonies, called ‘voices’. These voices are provided as a script for each member of the group (although this is not acting). The leader’s script also includes advice to help initiative conversation and helpful notes about each voice.
These are some of the responses from when CUFI trialled the resource at a recent gathering:
“Voices of the Holocaust is an incredible and powerful experience; very moving but also very motivational,” says one participant. “To be one of the ‘voices’ of someone who experienced the Holocaust took me into their world and brought them into mine and was deeply convicting of my need as a Christian to continue to be their voice today.”
Another said: “Voices of the Holocaust helped me connect with the victims of the Holocaust in a real and powerful way. I feel like I have a better understanding of the antisemitic evils of the past and gained insight into why Christians especially must stand with the Jewish people and Israel today.”
CUFI is launching this free resource to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, however, it will be an ongoing resource that can help Christians connect with the lessons of the Holocaust at any point of the year, whether it is at church, in a Bible study, or as a family.
“Unfortunately, every year as we move further away from the Holocaust, it is one year closer to a time when there will be no Holocaust survivors remaining,” says Des Starritt, CUFI’s Executive Director. “Their voices will no longer be present with us.
“At CUFI, we knew we had to do something more as an organisation to ensure that the Holocaust survivors’ voices were heard. We knew that Christians must not only hear their voices but be their voices.”
“The Holocaust started with words, those words led to actions, and those actions resulted in the slaughter of 6 million Jews,” he continues.
“Just as in World War II, there is today a need for righteous men and women to stand against evil. We must defend the Jewish people from the attacks of the enemy.
“Christians must be a voice for those who are no longer alive to tell their story just as we must be a voice for Israel and the Jewish people today
Find out more information about Voices of the Holocaust here:
