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In 1998 Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson set up the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The first forum took place in Stockholm between the 27th and 29th of January 2000. The United Nations declared in 2005 that each year on the 27th of January International Holocaust Remembrance Day would take place. On this day we are all asked to remember those who were murdered and to honour the survivors. This will help us to learn from the past to create a safer, better future. Each year the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chooses a different theme to help focus commemorations. The theme this year is to keep the memory alive. In the south of Millisle, in the town of Ballyrolly was a farm that had a little known secret from the Second World War. A plan was set up by the Refugee children's movement to raise money to help evacuate as many children as possible known as Kindertransport. One of the places were the children were evacuated was the farm in Ballyrolly. Despite having many differences the evacuees and local boys and girls lived happily on the farm side by side. They grew up together teaching each other different games and learning how to work on a farm. Up to 80 people lived and worked on the farm at any one time. From 1938 until it closed in 1948 well over 300 children and adults are believed to have past through. Many children attended the nearby Millisle Primary school were each foreign child sat beside a local child to learn the English language. There is a holocaust memorial garden in the school grounds to remember the Jewish presence that once existed. While each year the principal of the school receives a crate of oranges from a kibbutz in Israel to thank the school for keeping the story alive. Additionally two veterans of Kindertransport planted a tree grove in the peace forest outside Jerusalem to pay tribute to their saviours. The Millisle Farm Story International Holocaust Remembrance Day 27th January 2015
