Tuesday 27 January 2026 is Holocaust Memorial Day.

I am working again with the National Literacy Trust with classroom resources focused on oracy activities, empathy and informed discussion will support your KS2 or  KS3 class to explore, reflect and mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

10:00 – 10:45am 27 January 2026 – Holocaust Memorial Day live assembly with the National Literacy Trust.  Join me and special guest, Ruth Barnett to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. The free event will focus on Ruth’s experience of travelling to England as part of the Kindertransport.    FREE Book now here.

Five Words
Anschluss, Kristallnacht, Kindertransport, Refugee, Alien
I have written a new 5 part story for schools to read aloud, based on “My Darling Diary”, the real Kindertransport and wartime journal of a girl called Inga from her life first in Vienna, Austria 1937-39 and then in Falmouth, Cornwall 1939-1944. FREE Available now here.

Inga extra source materials :

Primary sources – a flip book of Inga’s family tree, photos & records

Listen to an interview with Inga here 

See Inga’s doll held by the Imperial War Museum here and her toy umbrella here

Read Cornwall Live newspaper article here

I am extremely grateful to Inga and her immediate and wider family for the support they have given us with this project and to UCL Centre for Holocaust Education for their expertise.

The FREE accompanying resources are suitable for every school to use around Holocaust Memorial Day.  For updates and reminders, please fill in the form below.  (Materials from previous years are still available free to use all year round, please scroll down.)

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Please send me *

• An e-newsletter about Holocaust Memorial Day 2026

Name *

First

Last

Email *

School Name (if applicable)

1st line of address

2nd line of address

Town / County

Postcode

Any additional message

Submit

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2026, ‘Bridging Generations’, is a call-to-action. A reminder that the responsibility of remembrance doesn’t end with the survivors – it lives on through their children, their grandchildren and through all of us. This theme encourages us all to engage actively with the past – to listen, to learn and to carry those lessons forward. By doing so, we build a bridge between memory and action, between history and hope for the future.

Holocaust Memorial Day in 2025

“We Will Tell Your Stories” marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.   FREE resources suitable for every school to use around Holocaust Memorial Day.

These resources are designed to inspire young people to create non-fiction historical writing based on true and powerful stories from the Holocaust and life after liberation.

“a great deal of thought, care, and effort has gone into creating something truly meaningful, playing a vital role in keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive and ensuring its lessons are passed on to future generations.” Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

They draw inspiration from the testimony of five women and men including Jewish, Roma and Sinti and LGBT+ people – victims and survivors of the Nazis between 1939 and 1945.

My “We Will Tell Your Stories” writing scrapbook …

My film on writing a story about a Holocaust survivor …

With huge thanks to Paul Hill@manshedfilms

This year’s resources include …

• a new high-quality film recorded at locations, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, intended to guide children through the process of writing a story about a Holocaust survivor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQdmSL8ePMw
• new resources created by the National Literacy Trust guiding the children through that writing process: https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/holocaust-memorial-day/
• my “We Will Tell Your Stories” writing scrapbook that can be used as an inspiration or raw material.  see above
• a live virtual event with genocide survivors from the National Literacy Trust and Holocaust Memorial Day Trust on Monday 27 January . Catch up here https://youtu.be/R0J7-tzFSUw
• a new Auschwitz Survivor Story by me: https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/holocaust-memorial-day/
• 50% off class sets of After the War with UCL form here
• a certificate to present to students for their work here

My 2025 resources are available with the support of partners including:

• the Lake District Holocaust Project
• UCL Centre for Holocaust Education
• the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
• the National Literacy Trust

And for the very first time I am working with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum who supported my filming and research.

Get 50% off class sets of 30 copies of After the War from Auschwitz to Ambleside” for  £119.85 (RRP £239.70) plus P&P £4.95 with UCL using this form here

Available all year round are the first chapters of Tom’s award-winning children’s historical fiction, “After the War – from Auschwitz to Ambleside” here https://tompalmer.co.uk/after-the-war/.

And you might also be interested in Tom’s blog for The Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre about his children’s historical fiction, “After the War – from Auschwitz to Ambleside” https://holocaustlearning.org.uk/latest/after-the-war-writing-about-the-holocaust/

Tom’s resources from previous Holocaust Memorial Days are still accessible below including …

• a five part story about the late Michael Novice – a man who survived Auschwitz and went on to work for @NASA and design the camera that showed us man walking on the moon. In memory of an extraordinary man.
• a five part story of a sister and brother reunion after the end of the war.  Of Mala Tribich MBE & the Late Sir Ben Helfgott, reunited after surviving the Nazi concentration camps.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2024

Our 2024 resources were available with partners including UCL Centre for Holocaust Education and the National Literacy Trust:

• a webinar with the Historical Association
• a Free 5 part story
• an online Q&A event with Mala Tribich

Wednesday 17 January 2024 CPD Webinar 4-5pm
As author of “After the War – from Auschwitz to Ambleside”, I took part in a webinar with the Historical Association and the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education – “Making the most out of Holocaust Memorial Day: challenges and opportunities”.

Monday 22 -26 January 2024 FREE 5 part story to read aloud
This year’s story to be read in the week prior to Holocaust Memorial Day is the true tale of a sister and brother reunion after the end of the war.  Of Mala Tribich MBE & the Late Sir Ben Helfgott, reunited after surviving the Nazi concentration camps. (Mala was in Sweden and Ben in London.)  The Late Sir Ben Helfgott was one of the inspirations for Tom’s acclaimed “After the War from Auschwitz to Ambleside” about the three hundred child concentration camp survivors who came to the Lake District nearly 75 years ago (known as the Windermere Boys) is available with lots of FREE resources to support it.  (More here www.tompalmer.co.uk/after-the-war/)  

Download the story here or watch Tom reading the story here.

Friday 26 January 2024 – 09:30 to 10:15 online Q&A even