Remember Together seeks minority stories for Second World War project

STUDENTS at a school in London have appealed to black and Asian people in the community to come forward with their stories of family members who served in the Second World War.

The ‘Remember Together’ project by students at Eden Girls’ School, Waltham Forest, and supported by the British Future thinktank, aims to address the lack of public awareness of ethnic minority contribution to the Second World War.

As part of the project, year nine students, aged 13-14, will speak to members of the local community and hope to collect old photographs and medals passed down by older relatives.

Zaynab, a student at the school, said: “It can feel like the contribution of black and Asian soldiers in the Second World War is overlooked in our history books.

“As a student from a Muslim background, I’d like other people to realise that our great-grandfathers served alongside theirs. It makes Remembrance more meaningful knowing that this is history we all share. I really hope families will come forward and share the stories of what their relatives did in the war.”

According to estimates, more than 2.5 million soldiers from the subcontinent served alongside servicemen and women from Africa, the Caribbean and other Commonwealth nations.

Dr Avaes Mohammad, a teacher at the school, said: “Every year the school marks Remembrance and we discuss with the students why it is important. Now they will connect that to the sacrifices made by ancestors from their own communities, and from people with similar ethnic and faith backgrounds.”

Steve Ballinger, of British Future, said: “By commemorating the sacrifice made by servicemen and women of all creeds and colours, Remember Together hopes to make our national tradition of Remembrance feel relevant and inclusive to everybody in Britain today.”

Last year, ahead of Remembrance Sunday, British Future organised a joint letter asking that “all who served are fully recognised through better education, commemoration and documentation of our shared history.”

The letter was signed by people from different faiths, civil society, the military and politicians of all parties, including London mayor Sadiq Khan.

While launching the Remember Together initiative in 2020, Tottenham MP David Lammy said: “Every child grows up learning about WW2 in school, but the stories of the black and brown soldiers who helped defeat the Nazis have long been missing from their textbooks. We can and must do more to commemorate this forgotten sacrifice, so that every child in our diverse classrooms sees that British history is their history.”

See www.remembertogether.uk for more. To share family stories, contact-info@egwf.staracademies.org or call 07593 336138.