Jewish East End Celebration Society
P.O. Box 57317, London E1 3WG
[email protected]

Holocaust Memorial Day was marked in the East End with a wide range of events, culminating in the annual Interfaith Commemoration at the East London Central Synagogue in Nelson Street.

Before the Nelson Street event, Clive Bettington, JEECS chairman, led a walk on the theme of The East End and the Holocaust. Other events across the East End included an exhibition focused on “The Boys” – the young Holocaust survivors who found sanctuary in Britain – and a special film screening for local school pupils as well as general members of the public.

Leon Silver of the East London Central Synagogue, Nelson Street, led the Holocaust Memorial Day event.

This year’s theme was Don’t Stand By. The Nelson Street event, on Sunday January 24, three days before Holocaust Memorial Day itself, featured music, poetry, readings and reflections from a number of community leaders and guests from different faiths.

It was led by Leon Silver of the synagogue. Seven candles were lit in memory of all those who died and suffered in concentration camps.

Among those taking part were John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Chief Superintendent Andy Ewing, Borough Commander of the Metropolitan Police, Professor Maxwell Hutchinson, the architect who is working on the renovation of the synagogue, the Reverend Alan Green, Rector of St John on Bethnal Green, the Rev Michael Dunne, Roman Catholic Dean of Tower Hamlets, and Yiddish actor Barry Davis.

There were representatives from the Sikh, Hindu, Bahai, and Buddhist faiths, and from the Swadhinata Trust, which works to preserve and promote Bengali history and culture in a way somewhat akin to JEECS’s East End activities.

Poetry readings were provided by Clive Branson, Karen Gershon and Jerzy Ficowski, with musical interludes from Francesca Ter-Berg. 

The shofar was blown by special guest, Kindertransport survivor Henry Glanz. 

                                                                                    Photographs by Philip Maltman

Just some of those taking part, including (3rd from right) Stephanie Maltman of JEECS, one of the prime organisers

Professor Maxwell Hutchinson, the architect who is working on plans to save Nelson Street

                              John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets

  Chief Superintendent Andy Ewing, Borough Commander of the Metropolitan police

                     The Reverend Alan Green, Rector of St John on Bethnal Green

 

Francesca Ter-Berg provided musical interludes

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs by Philip Maltman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Latest news

  • East End Jewish themes at Hackney Festival

    Andrew Whitehead, whose new book on the Siege of Sydney Street, an iconic event in the Jewish East End, has just been published, is one of many fascinating speakers at the Hackney History Festival in May. Read More
  • East End playwright, novelist and poet Bernard Kops dies aged 97

    Bernard Kops, the great East End playwright, novelist and poet, and honorary president of JEECS, has died at the age of 97 The son of Dutch-Jewish immigrants, Bernard was born in 1926 and brought up in Stepney Green Buildings in a world whose frontier was Aldgate East tube station, a world in which clothing from the Jewish Board of Guardians Read More
  • Seeking the human being within, behind the cloak

    Bernard Kops, the great East End playwright, poet and novelist has died at the age of 97. Honorary life president of JEECS, he was an astute observer of both the old Jewish East End and the modern world. The interview below is from the JEECS magazine The Cable in 2006 and is being republished as a tribute to a great Read More
  • A fresh look at the Siege of Sydney Street

      The Siege of Sydney Street is the subject of a new book published on March 1 that provides a thrilling account of this iconic East End event. Read More
  • From Polish immigrant to East End artist: the lost Whitechapel boy

    Morris Goldstein, a near forgotten member of the remarkable group of artists and writers that flourished in the East End in the early part of the last century, deserves wider recognition. RAYMOND FRANCIS, his son, gives us a taste of his story in this extract from his book about his father's life. This article was published in JEECS's magazine The Read More
  • East End Brady days

    An exhibtion devoted to the history of the Brady Girls' Club opens in London on October 6. So it seemed a timely moment to republish these reminiscences of an iconic East End organisation originally published in our magazine The Cable in 2010. Read More
  • Exhibition celebrates the Brady Girls' Club

    The history of a seminal East End organisation, the wonderful Brady Girls’ Club, is being celebrated in an exhibition at London Metropolitan University opening next month. Read More
  • Sikh peddlers in the Jewish East End

    The role of Jewish East Enders in working with early Sikh arrivals in the UK is set to form part of a new documentary film whose creators are seeking people who can talk to them from a Jewish perspective about the partnerships that developed. Read More
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

For the old Jeecs site, visit www.jeecs.org.uk/archive