The 27th of January is International Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) when 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust are remembered and honoured. HMD also commemorates the Roma genocide and the millions of non-Jewish people murdered under the Nazi persecution including disabled people, black people, and LGBT people among many more. HMD also honours and remembers those murdered in the recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia & Darfur.
Introducing the theme at the national HMD event live-streamed on 27th Jan, a speaker said genocides don’t just happen. It is often a subtle and slow process, but one thing is certain; in every genocide that has taken place, those who are targeted for persecution have had their freedoms restricted and removed. Therefore, the HMD event theme this year is the ‘Fragility of Freedom’.
In her opening statement, the Chair of the HMD Trust, Laura Marks OBE said, “This year, the nation is coming together, to mark the Holocaust Memorial Day under tragic and shocking circumstances. We were all appalled by the massacre in Israel by Hamas on October 7. The subsequent war in Gaza has caused immense civilian suffering. Here, in the UK, we are experiencing record levels of anti-Semitism, anti-Jewish hatred. We are also recording a deplorable and deeply concerning rise in anti-Muslim hatred - Islamophobia. Deliberate violence against & between communities proliferates across our world. Our sincere hope is that the Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 can help bridge the divides, bringing people together, no matter what race religion, or ethnicity.”
The recording of the national HMD event can be viewed at https://www.hmd.org.uk/ukhmd/.
At the HMD event in Luton, civic dignitaries, including the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire and members of Luton’s diverse communities lit candles in memory of all those killed during the Holocaust and the subsequent genocides.
The event was held at the University of Bedfordshire, at which a Holocaust survivor shared a moving account of his painful story. He said this wasn’t the first genocide and sadly this wasn’t the last. The human race is not good at ‘Never Again’.
Later in the programme, the Ten Stages of Genocide were recited to remind that genocides must be resisted every day and that the fragility of our freedoms must be protected and preserved.
At the Holocaust Memorial event in Luton, civic dignitaries and members of Luton’s diverse communities lit candles in memory of all those killed during the Holocaust and the subsequent genocides.