A MAN who lost three members of his family during the Second World War paid tribute to the fallen yesterday.
Pensioner Alf Heimbach's grandmother starved to death in the Warsaw Ghetto, an aunt perished in the Stuthof concentration camp, while an uncle simply disappeared.
He attended a gathering at Middlesbrough's cenotaph.
Originally from Hanover, Mr Heimbach was shipped to Britain for safety, one of 400 Jewish child evacuees. He arrived in Middlesbrough as a 14-year-old, where he was brought up by an Irish family.
President of the Hebrew Congregation David Simon addressed the gathering and said the deaths of six million Jews and millions from other groups should never be forgotten.
He said: "We have to keep this idea of remembrance going because there is ignorance and there will be ignorance for generations to come."
Robert Trewhitt, whose airman brother John Corder was shot down over Stettin and interned by the Germans, laid flowers on behalf of the Royal Air Force Association and 1,500 commonwealth serviceman who died in Auschwitz and other camps.
Mewanwhile, peace candles were lit as a memorial at a school in Consett yesterday. Made of old railway track, the monument at Blackfyne Community School carries the names of children who died in the death camps.
It has been created over the past three months by year 11 pupils Liam Roebuck and Lee Trussler with help from teacher David Meiklejohn.
Liam, 16, of Delves Lane, Consett, said: "I am proud that I have been involved in something that is going to last."
The memorial was unveiled by Deanna van der Velde, the daughter of German-Polish Jews, whose parents fled after the Kristallnacht attacks in 1938.
At Durham Sixth Form Centre, students heard personal accounts of two teenagers who recently visited Auschwitz.
Sarah Maughan, 19, and Hannah Unwin, 17, visited the camp, where an estimated 1.1 million mainly Jewish detainees were gassed to death. They also visited London's Central Synagogue, to hear the memories of Auschwitz survivor Kitty Hart.
Sarah told students it was not only Jews who were targeted.
"There were disabled, gypsies, homosexuals, intellectuals, Soviet prisoners of war and many more. Anyone the Nazis chose to disagree with became victims."
Mark Roberts and Katie Yeats, both 17, students from nearby Durham Johnston School, also took part in the visit.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article