DUDLEY has united to remember the Holocaust in a commemorative event at the town’s college.

The Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Sue Greenaway, joined local faith leaders to light a candle of remembrance for the millions of people who were killed and persecuted during the Holocaust, before planting a tree in Coronation Gardens to mark the 80th anniversary of the Association of Jewish Refugees.

Concentration camp survivor Eva Clarke BEM, who was born on a cart outside the Mauthausen camp in April 1945, gave a speech about her parent’s banishment by the Nazis to a concentration camp in Poland.

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Hundreds of attendees in the college’s Great Hall rose to give Mrs Clarke a standing ovation after hearing her incredible story on Friday, January 20.

Ms Clarke later joined the Mayor of Dudley, Association of Jewish Refugees chief executive Michael Newman OBE, Lord Lieutenant John Crabtree CBE, and pupils from St Thomas’s School to plant a tree.

Dudley News: Lord Lieutenant Sir John Crabtree CBE, concentration camp survivor Eva Clarke BEM, and the Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Sue Greenaway, at Dudley's Holocaust memorial tree planting (left to right).Lord Lieutenant Sir John Crabtree CBE, concentration camp survivor Eva Clarke BEM, and the Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Sue Greenaway, at Dudley's Holocaust memorial tree planting (left to right). (Image: Dudley Council.)

Dudley was selected as the final site for planting due to the borough’s long history of welcoming refugees of many different faiths and nationalities.

Councillor Sue Greenaway, the mayor of Dudley, said: “The commemoration was an immensely moving event and I was honoured to light the candle of remembrance and plant the memorial tree.

“Listening to Eva and her family’s story was compelling and I am truly grateful to her for attending, as well as our faith leaders from across the borough.

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“It’s so important to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and ensure that it is never repeated, particularly as time goes on and its survivors get older.”

“I was heartened to see so many young people from Dudley at the event and I hope they will carry the message of resisting hatred and intolerance long into the future.”