The Academy of St Francis of Assisi is a coeducational joint-faith Roman Catholic and Church of England academy in Kensington, Liverpool. This month, students and staff at the Academy came together in memory of the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust, and their approach was to combine past and present and look at how ethnic groups still face prejudice and discrimination today.
Within the ASFA student community are many Roma children and families. This year, the Memorial Day plans have focused on the Roma genocide.
Many students told their stories of how they are still persecuted in countries across Europe for their Roma background, for example, not being allowed into shops and being bullied in school in their home countries. They identified links between the persecution of Jews and other minorities in the early days of the Nazi regime and of discrimination that still goes on today.
Miss Kate Allen, Head of History at the Academy and Headteacher Miss Amanda Gamble reached out to Eve Rosenhaft. She shared chapters from the BESTROM project’s forthcoming book, European Roma: Lives Beyond Stereotypes with them. Kate and Amanda were inspired by Laurence Prempain’s research to frame the school project around the story of Raymond Gurême, a Romani Holocaust survivor.
Using individual drawings and voiceovers by several students, the students then worked with local animator Linda Bennett to bring Raymond's story to life, in a way that would be accessible to younger pupils.
The animation can be viewed on BenoToonz YouTube channel.