BEHRMANN SCHOOL NEWS LECTURE
BEHRMANN LECTURE 2020 Standing Together The 2020 Behrmann lecture, given in memory of OP Josef Behrmann (1939) was delivered on 12 February, on the theme of ‘Standing Together’, in line with the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day. Y11 pupil Robert Rayner gives his thoughts on the lecture:
A
s the 75th anniversary of the liberation of
were among those as they were sent to an orphanage
Auschwitz-Birkenau was fresh in collective
in the city.
memory, the theme for this year’s Holocaust
Reverend Moriarty gave a thought-provoking
Memorial Day was ‘Standing Together’. The speakers,
response to this testimony. He delivered his own advice
Patrick Moriarty, ordained priest in the CofE and
towards how Christians can truly ‘Stand Together’, and
Headteacher of the Jewish School JCoSS in Barnet,
minimise the impact of anti-Semitism, stemming from
and Andrew Sawczenko, Consultant Paediatrician
the Jewish teaching that one ‘can’t forgive for others’.
and second generation survivor, delivered two very
He detailed how pervasive anti-Semitic prejudice is in
different, yet enlightening testimonies.
our institutions, notably the military industrial complex,
Delivered in the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre,
and the looming threat of populism.
Dr Sawczenko told his mother’s story for the very first time. It was an evocative testimony of how his
Reverend Moriarty expanded on this with four
mother, a Polish Jew residing in the 30% Jewish
suggestions to avoid ‘unhealthy tribalism’, and further
city of Przemyśl survived the holocaust. A tale of
disaster:
endeavour and endurance, then aged six, his mother and her family escaped to the Soviet-controlled
• Respectful silence; giving space for mourning and processing of collective trauma
zone as Germany began to repress Przemyśl’s Jews, eventually forcing them into sealed ghettos before
• Embrace difference; talking about and celebrating difference between groups
taking them to extermination camps. Dr Sawczenko explained how, even when in
• Build trust; ensuring diverse friendships and relationships, rooted in mutual trust
the USSR, they had not escaped the last of their persecution: Poles who refused to take Soviet
• Sharing; spreading our own experiences and narratives, in trust
citizenship were banished to gulags (hard labour camps). His grandparents both died of starvation in one such gulag in Siberia, leaving his mother and aunt
I found the lectures incredibly interesting.
orphaned. They then spent much of World War Two
Dr Sawczenko’s mother’s story served to further
at another camp in Kazakhstan.
extend my own understanding and knowledge of
The audience was guided through Dr Sawczenko’s
the horror of the Holocaust, and Reverend Moriarty’s
own reunion with his mother’s story, in following her
response was enlightening in its sensitive approach
footsteps as one of the small minority of Jews who
to healing from trauma and moving towards a more
decided to return to Przemyśl. His mother and aunt
equal society.
ANDREW SAWCZENKO (CENTRE LEFT) AND PATRICK MORIARTY (CENTRE RIGHT) WITH PERSE STAFF AND PUPILS AHEAD OF THE 2020 BEHRMANN LECTURE.
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