Holocaust Memorial Day is today, 27 January, on the anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Across the UK and internationally, people will come together to commemorate the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps across Europe and to remember the Holocaust.
Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment and the earlier this week, pledging his commitment to marking Holocaust Memorial Day – honouring the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust as well as paying tribute to the extraordinary Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people today.
In the lead up to and on Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of commemorative events will be arranged by schools, faith groups and community organisations across the country, remembering the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Toby will visit the National Holocaust Museum in Laxton on Thursday 12 February alongside local school Inkersall Spencer Academy and the East Coast and East Midlands Jewish Leadership Council.
Holocaust Memorial Day presents a key opportunity to bring the Holocaust to the fore of our national consciousness. With survivors becoming fewer and frailer, the responsibility falls on us and the next generation to remember and ensure the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten. On Holocaust Memorial Day we also remember and pay tribute to all of those persecuted by the Nazis, including Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, LGBT people, political opponents to the Nazis and others.
After signing the Book of Commitment, Toby Perkins MP said:
“Holocaust Memorial Day this year marks over 80 years since the liberation of the infamous former Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in 1945.
Today presents an important opportunity for people from Chesterfield to reflect on the darkest times of European history. I pledge to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered in the Holocaust and speak out against all forms of antisemitism.”
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said:
“On Holocaust Memorial Day we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators; and we honour the survivors who rebuilt their lives while coming to terms with unimaginable loss.
Over 80 years on, the Holocaust is fading further into history. As the voices of survivors sadly fades the responsibility to continue their legacy passes firmly on to the next generation. The loss of eyewitness and the urgency to protect their stories for the next generation is crucial.
This Holocaust Memorial Day comes at a moment of renewed danger for Jewish communities worldwide. From Bondi Beach in Australia to Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, in recent months we have seen Jewish people murdered while observing their holiest days. These atrocities did not occur in a vacuum. This followed two years where antisemitism has been permitted to grow louder, more brazen and increasingly normalised. Remembering the murder of Jewish people in the past is essential, but remembrance alone is no longer sufficient, especially while Jewish lives remain at risk today.
Holocaust Memorial Day must be a call to action. Antisemitism must be confronted early and decisively, everywhere it appears, before it escalates into violence. It is up to all of us.”
