Poems For Reflection

A poem is read by the SU President every year for Holocaust Memorial Day.

Dudley Holocaust Commemoration 2026

Bridging Generations

We come to sit today to hear
horrors of the past.
Impossible to comprehend,
Their courage will always last.

We listen to the stories told,
Days so dark and brave.
Memories shared from long ago,
Forget not, those lives who gave.

We realise the fear they faced!
Change attitudes, to choose what’s right,
Make our homes, our towns, our world,
A place to be, of peace and light.

And now their gift we carry on,
Resilience they have shown,
To speak up when we witness wrong,
And never stand alone.

Tireless efforts – we will understand
Hate, Prejudice – to overcome,
Together, we can show the way,
Educate, and learn from what was done.

Though time moves on and voices fade,
Their lessons still shine bright,
Kindness, care, strength and hope
We should always keep in sight.

Dudley Holocaust Commemoration 2025

For A Better Future

The undeniable, reprehensible, heinous past.

Raw memories embedded in present mind.

Searching souls, with hope for a better future,

Fearing fate being left to cruel mankind.

 

Stop the hatred; a sprawling infectious disease,

Show kindness to neighbours; a promising start,

World at peace, not at war, for the good of tomorrow,

Think ahead, do one’s best, hence we all play our part.

 

Dudley Holocaust Commemoration 2024 

Thoughts for Freedom

Live, work, worship… love how we choose,

Taken for granted – we hope never to lose.

 

Expression, movement, and freedom of mind

Imprisoned, enslaved - so brutal, unkind.

 

Challenge regimes and restriction of rights,

curtailed professions, education, and life.

 

Freedom is fragile, enjoy fellow kindness,

What is freedom? Take a thought to remind us

 

Dudley Holocaust Commemoration 2023

Ordinary People

The perpetrators, the persecuted,

rescuers and bystanders.

 

Deniers, witnesses,

victims, survivors.

 

The cruelties of history

Can happen again

 

Affecting ordinary people

Living ordinary lives.

 

Extra-ordinary choices

For us all to decide

 

Stand up, challenge hatred,

Be respectful and guide.

 

Dudley Holocaust Commemoration 2022

One Day

One Day, in history....

Too many to choose!

 

One day, life changed...

They were waiting for news

 

One day, a future

with no genocide?

One day, make choices

let hope be our guide

 

One day, learn lessons

the pain of holocaust

 

Forget not those who have suffered

And those we have lost