The Footsteps Team is derived from the hope of building a better future for this and later generations in every part of the world. Our principles are based on the need to share the history and educate students of all ages on the horrors of the Holocaust, not only to remember and respect the victims, but to keep the voices of the silenced alive. Their stories in the hearts and minds of present and future generations are the key to a better future for all mankind.

Hello to all of you,

During the last week, over two separate days, Footsteps members Rainer, Simone and Simon, accompanied by our partner Thea Haimovitz-Kabbalah and other friends, visited the U.K’s National Memorial Arboretum at Arlewas in central England. This is a vast complex covering some 61 hectares in the National Forest. The main memorial commemorates British military personnel who have died in combat since the end of the Second World War. The rest of the site is too big to see in one day. There are memorials to British, Commonwealth and Allied forces from the First World War up to the present day. There are also memorials to fallen police officers, ambulance and fire services, veterinarians, entertainers and many others who died and served during times of conflict. A memorial to the Far East campaign vividly depicts the brutality of the war against Japan, the dreadful conditions of slave labour, torture, suffering and murder, the starvation and the death marches. The Arboretum and all the memorials displayed does not glorify war. It provides a place of quiet, respectful and peaceful remembrance where loved ones can reflect on lost relatives, and visitors can contemplate the inhumanity and occasional necessity of war. All of the memorials – large and small – are impressive, but one in particular moved us all greatly. It is called Shot at Dawn. It commemorates those British and Commonwealth soldiers – often aged only 17 or 18 – who were executed in the First World War for the ‘crime’ of being terrified, mentally or physically unwell, or merely just unable to fight. The main statue is a blindfolded soldier about to be shot. His face vividly depicts his fear. He is surrounded by wooden posts, each of which has the name and personal details of comrades who were also executed in this brutal way. Shockingly, it was not until 2006 – ninety years after the War – that these men were posthumously pardoned. For all those years until then, they were viewed as criminals.

The Shrewsbury Biscuit Podcast Episode 38 Ft Rainer Hoess:

It's been a busy and uplifitng few days for us. Rainer and Simon did a podcast interview in the English town of Shrewsbury; Simone, Rainer and Simon also did a BBC Radio interview (links to be shared when they are received). We joined forces with the talented, enthusiastic and wonderfully dynamic Thea Haimovitz Kabbalah who conducted the livestream interviews and gave us so much in the way of inspiration and ideas. And, to cap it all, Jessica Clark, one of the four original Footsteps team members, has rejoined us after three years of travelling and working overseas. Jess has a great knowledge of the Nazi medical experiments, a passion for history, a strong desire to promote tolerance and has many techological skills, which, in combination with Simone, will improve our options to spread our reach further. Please read her profile in the 'who we are' section of our website. We are very excited that we have turned a corner that will help us, and those who follow Footsteps, to make more of a difference.

Many followers of this page will have read Thomas Harding's 'Hanns andRudolf: The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of Auschwitz.' Itrelates the story of Lieutenant Hanns Alexander, who was tasked by theBritish War Crimes Investigation Team to hunt for senior Nazis. He and histeam eventually captured Rudolf Höss. Hanns Alexander was a German Jewish refugee who arrived in the UK in the late 1930s and would eventually see military service with the British army. In early 1940 the British introduced a policy of mass internment of newly arrived refugees. This had an impact on the family of Hanns Alexander and provides a somewhat tenuous link between his family and the Höss family. Erich Hirschowitz (by then calling himself Harding) was the brother-in-law of Hanns Alexander. On 19 July 1940 he was arrested at his home in London and the next day he was transferred to an internment camp near the town of Whitchurch in Shropshire, England. A few days ago Rainer was taken by Simon to explore the perimeter of where the tented camp once was. It is somewhat hidden from view, with no markers indicating its existence. Only a few derelict military buildings remain, but it was fascinating to look around this place, knowing that it had a connection to the past of the man who captured Rudolf Höss.

A view weeks ago Ben Lesser, survivor of Auschwitz and Rainer Hoss joint hands in Paris. They gave lectures and presented the translated version in French of Ben's Book: Living a life that matters. 

Another incredible meeting, this time in Paris ....

An open-air bookshop for 3 days with readings, theatrical performances, numerous meetings and a virtual walk in the Paris of 1941...For the third edition of its Book Fair, the Shoah Memorial is hosting three days of activities for writers, researchers, actors and musicians around recent publications that highlight the different forms of memory transmission.Once again, witnesses are central: stories of life or survival, essays and literary works, but also poetry as resistance and overcoming disaster. The new technologies are also put at the service of memory and the duty of transmission, questioned in a play and implemented during a virtual 3D walk, which plunges the spectator into occupied Paris.

This is one of the most heartbreaking of images (from the Auschwitz Memorial Twitter page). A group of Hungarian Jews in Birkenau circa May 1944. The little boy is showing or giving a flower to an older child. Minutes later everyone pictured would die. Two photographs depict more vividly than any words why we must stand against the politics of hate.