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Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the millions who died in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. In 2008, it's on Sunday 27 January. Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the millions who died in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. In 2008, it's on Sunday 27 January.

Frank Bright at home near Ipswich 2005

Settled in the atrium at Suffolk County Council's Endeavour House, metal tendrilsΜύ cover the outside of the 'Strings' exhibition display panels (or 'book covers') which act as a partition. Enter through the gap and it gives way to a textured orange interior.

Working from an old school photograph taken in the Jewish ghetto in Prague in 1942, Suffolk's Holocaust survivor Frank Bright has been trying to trace the fate of his classmates.

The photo is surrounded by 21 prints which have been created by Ron Kirkpatrick. They're harsh on the eye and below each one is a number - the transport codes of the Jewish children who were sent from Prague to the ghetto of Theresienstadt in the former Czechoslovakia.

Back in the noisy concourse in the County Council's HQ, staff enjoying lunch at the open plan canteen drown out the words as each of the people involved in the exhibition introduce themselves at the launch. I find it strangely fitting as current genocides and injustices are treated in the same way - drowned out by the bustle of everyday life.

It's no-one's fault, but it happens none the less.

Strings

Ron Kirkpatrick is an artist who was born in Israel and now works in Britain. He's taken the 1942 school photograph and made it the centrepiece and inspiration for a much larger work display.

"One could presume that humanity has learnt the lessons of history," said Ron. "After all, we have the media today. It will not happen again, the world cannot be fooled.

"However, such people always find a way to create a situation that will allow them to achieve their goal. Those holding the gun don't necessarily create the crime. In the end the ordinary person is the one that pays the price."

Streams of consciousness

Inside the installation the reverse sides of the 'book cover' panels have blocks of text such as this one:

"And the red wall fell into the blue ocean
Blood in and fire all order order not at all
No name no place no shape at all
Just a river of drops"

The disconnected style and lack of punctuation adds to their starkness. You can add your name and comments around the poems using a felt-tip pen. You can also tie red and yellow 'strings of remembrance' around your wrist.

Adding to the poetry

In the centre of the display is a TV screen playing a DVD of 80 year old Frank Bright recounting his story of the search for former classmates and their relatives: "I've just about completed the task.

"It's taken me years, but I can tell you the fate ofΜύ39 of my class mates. Nine survived and the other 30 were killed. I'm among the nine of course!"

The exhibition runs at Endeavour House until it transfers to Ipswich's Corn Exchange for 25-27 January. A schools day takes place in the Corn Exchange's Robert Cross Hall on Friday 25 January.

The Strings exhibition then goes on tour to Aldeburgh, Norwich, Scotland, Liverpool, London, Poland and Israel.

Love story

Dora Love is another survivor who's telling us about her experiences at the exhibition. She grew up in Memel - a town which is now called Kleipeda in Lithuania.

Her family fled after the Nazi invasion on March 1939. She lost a lot of her family and ended up in Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk, Poland. After the war she married a British soldier called Frank Love. She now lives in Colchester.

Listen to Dora's story (as told to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Suffolk's Lesley Dolphin) by clicking on the audio links.

Other events

The Hollywood Film Theatre in Ipswich is screening Holocaust-related movies including The Pianist (Thursday 24 January), Schindler's List (Friday 25 January), The Counterfeiters (Saturday 26 January) and The Freedom Writers (Sunday 27 January).

Suffolk singer/songwrite Juliana Meyer has written a song for Holocaust Memorial Day called Never Again. Like Radiohead, you can download it for free via her website but you are invited to make a donation to the Suffolk Refugee Support Forum.

A Holocaust Memorial Day for schools has been organised by John Moore at Deben High in Felixstowe on Thursday 24. As well as a different art exhibition, there will aslo be a drama and dance production and Frank Bright will be telling his story.