For the twelfth year, two synagogues in Northwood are joining forces to present a week of Holocaust Memorial Day events beginning later this month.

The four-day event is organised by Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, Northwood United Synagogue and Rabbis Aaron Goldstein, Hillel Athias-Robles and Moshe Freedman.

It is the largest event in the UK which commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, remembering the millions of Jewish people killed during the Second World War.

About 2,000 secondary school students and teachers from more than 30 schools in Hertfordshire, Harrow and Hillingdon will take part in the event.

The theme this year is Speak Up, Speak Out, focussing on the discrimination which is still rife the world.

The festival takes place from Monday, January 30, to Thursday, February 2, and Holocaust survivor Steven Frank will speak at the opening ceremony.

During the week students will have a chance to hear first hand from Mr Frank and other Holocaust survivors, who give testimonies of their experiences.

There will also be a workshop looking into the impact of the Holocaust on contemporary issues such as racism, discrimination, bullying, persecution and citizenship.

Participating schools include Northwood College, Bushey Academy, Bushey Mead, Parmiters, Kings Langley, Watford Grammar School for Boys, The Royal Masonic School and Watford Girls Grammar School.

Holocaust survivor Steven Frank was born in 1935 in Amsterdam. His father was a well known Dutch lawyer and his mother was the daughter of professional musicians.

With the outbreak of the war the family decided to remain in Holland because Mr Frank's father was the legal member of the governing board of a Jewish mental hospital.

In March 1943 the family was taken to Barneveld and in September 1943 to Westerbork, which was a transit camp. A year later they were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp where they survived until being liberated by the Russian army in May 1945 after the war had ended.

Each two and a half hour session is free, non denominational and has no religious content.