Holocaust Memorial Day 2016

Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday January 27 is to be marked by Bath & North East Somerset Council. An annual day of remembrance, it marks the date that the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Allies in 1945.

Cllr Sarah Bevan, Member Advocate for Human Rights on Bath & North East Somerset Council, has a special commitment to marking the day: her mother was a Holocaust survivor.  Cllr Bevan said: “Every year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz extermination camp we remember the six million Jewish children, women and men murdered by the genocidal Nazi regime.

“This year’s theme, ‘Don’t Stand By’, helps each of us to challenge the attitudes that allowed this and other racially motivated acts of hatred to happen – every-day discrimination and the tendency latent in all of us to see some people as less worthy than others. As a Roma survivor of Auschwitz, Ceija Stojka, said, ‘I remember Auschwitz every waking moment of my life’; so must we remember and reflect on how and why attempts at genocide happen.”

Cllr Ian Gilchrist, Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, will also speak at the event.  He said: “We often take for granted the privileges that we have today, as democratic citizens with a right to speak, vote, and take part in our community.  Honouring Holocaust Memorial Day enables us all to pause and remember the lessons we must learn from the past in order to create a safer, better future.”

The short ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day will take place on Wednesday January 27 at 5pm in The Guildhall.  People wishing to attend should contact 01225 394235 or [email protected]