Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:16 pm on 28 January 2020.
Thank you, Delyth Jewell. I'm pleased you focused on lessons learnt and how that can influence, going back to Mark Isherwood's point, the whole of our working, the whole of our policy making and delivery. And particularly, I think, it was good that we had a statement on the new curriculum this afternoon, to see that there are opportunities, because I know that all the schools that do engage, and most schools—I think there'll be very few schools that won't now engage in national Holocaust Memorial Day—will have learnt and will have taken this forward, and it will become not just an annual feature, but a feature of the curriculum, of their living and learning, to create that society that we know is right for their opportunity, their values and their ethics.
I think it's very important to see, in terms of the opportunities with the flames that you'll see around the country, and I hope you will see them in the Senedd today, that, actually, there's also a Lessons from Auschwitz course being run by the Holocaust Educational Trust, and we're enabling schools and teachers to benefit from that. And one of the schools that actually did benefit from our funding this year was Woodlands High School in Cardiff, which also was able to produce and be recognised for the sharing of the flame.
It was interesting last night hearing from Dr Martin Stern about the gradual build-up of the Nazi movement and the influence of Adolf Hitler in Germany—Germany, his country that he loved and had to leave. He actually survived the Holocaust as a very young boy, and we've all heard of the stories over the last two days, but he's determined that his story should be shared with the youngest of children in our society.
I think importantly yesterday, also, the First Minister said:
'Today is a painful day and I thank Dr Stern for using his touching story to remind us all about the power of tolerance…We must stand together. We must celebrate our differences. And we must believe there is more that unites us than drives us apart. It's the only way to make sure these sorry events stay exactly where they belong—in the history books.'
Julie Morgan, the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services, and I did write to the Home Secretary about the importance of ensuring that we have got an opportunity to support family reunification for child refugees. And, in fact, I acknowledged Lord Alf Dubs, when we had our event on the fourteenth, when we were painting messages on stones, and I think many people had a message to thank him for what he's done for child refugees since he was a child refugee. And I know that we will be writing to find out how the UK Government is proposing to support family reunification for child refugees, which is what they have said. So, we will be taking that up following our statement last week.
Finally, I would have to say that this is an opportunity for us in this Assembly to unite across the Chamber, to stand, making sure that we respond to the standing together message of the national Holocaust movement, and the importance of Holocaust Memorial Day.