January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day. It marks the anniversary of when the biggest camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated in 1945; following the deaths of 6 million Jewish people under Nazi Prosecution. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust outline the day as an opportunity for everyone to “come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future”, which also includes other genocide including Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. This year’s theme is ‘Ordinary People’, which: “highlights the ordinary people that let the genocide happen, the ordinary people who actively perpetuated genocide, and the ordinary people who were persecuted”
We encourage you to learn more about Holocaust Memorial Day, by engaging with the range of free in person and online events happening across the day and weekend. You can watch a Kaddish reciting by a representative of the local Jewish community from 11-1:00pm at Gloucester Guildhall, tune into An Online Commemoration for the Day led by Kirsty Wark from 7pm, or participate in poetry reading and singing at Weston Museum on Saturday evening between 7:30-9:30pm.
If you are unable to attend these events, Bristol Holocaust Memorial Day are hosting a pre-recorded talk via their YouTube channel led by Holocaust survivor John Hajdu MBE, available from 12pm Friday. You can also get involved by lighting a candle and placing it safely in your window from 4pm*.
*Please do not leave unattended.