Holocaust Memorial Day - Roma Family Memories

Meet Pete: He is from the Roma community and loves sport. In the first video he tells us about his life (today 2021) - growing up in Poland and doing what he loves: a professional boxer and sporting coach.

In the next video he shares what he knows about his great-grandmother (Majorka) There is an Auschwitz connection and we hear that her first husband was killed. Pete wants to find out more. Can we help him?

The document ‘Wartime Poland and the Roma Community’ includes researched facts from reputable sources (which are referenced). The green boxes are the memories of Pete’s Dad. Majorka was his grandmother and the two were close. She would often talk about the War, Holocaust and her experiences.

Majorka’s husband was sent to Auschwitz, where he was killed.

Facts are shared in an accurate and honest way with no graphic descriptions or imagery.

‘Pete’s Factfile’ can be used by teachers or students. It lists the main points made in the videos and includes questions to consider.

There are two suggested activities. One uses the ‘Wartime Poland and the Roma Community’ document and asks children to draw out the most important information to share with Pete. This can be just an exercise or scanned and sent to hello.bblearns@gmail.com

The other suggested activity is straight from:
https://www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/this-years-theme/
A great website with amazing ideas and resources. In this pack we recommend a large artwork with the candle symbol that can be created by the whole class adding their hand prints.