School pupils paid a moving tribute on Monday to 1.5 million Jewish children and their family members who were killed during the Holocaust.
Accompanied by ambassadors and diplomats from six EU countries, as well an European Commission representative, the pupils planted a circle of yellow-flowering crocuses in the grounds of their school, Scoil Chiaráin in Glasnevin, Dublin.
The yellow crocuses were in tribute to the yellow star which Jews were forced to wear on their clothing, one of the methods used by Nazis to identify Jews and separate them from the general population.
The crocus blooms at the end of January around the time of Holocaust Memorial Day, on January 27th.
In a question and answer session with the pupils before the planting event, Caryna Camerino, who described herself as “a third generation Holocaust survivor” told the pupils “the most important thing is that we talk about the Holocaust in schools, it is important that we never forget”.
Ms Camerino told the pupils the story of her grandfather Enzo Camerino, an Italian living in Rome who was rounded up with his parents and his extended family on the night of October 16th, 1943, and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most of his family were killed.
Ms Camerino’s grandfather and his brother escaped as prisoners were being marched into a wood towards the end of the war. Her grandfather returned to Rome, married and eventually emigrated to Canada where he did not tell anyone, even his children, he was Jewish.
He found his voice in giving interviews for the film Schindler's List and went on to become a campaigner to inform people what had happened to the Jews and to develop "pride" in retelling what had happened to him.
Scoil Chiaráin is a school for children with learning disabilities and the pupils were told people with disabilities were among the first victims of the Nazis.
The Crocus Project is an Irish initiative which sees the Holocaust Education Trust provide yellow crocus bulbs for young people and school pupils aged over 11 years.
William Noë, European semester officer with the commission representation in Ireland, said the aim was to raise awareness of the fragility of EU values of the rights of citizens, particularly at a time when those values were once again under attack. He said the importance of the EU today was underlined by Europe’s past.
