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27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day. This year 2020 also marks the 75th anniversay of the the liberation in 1945, by the Soviet army, of the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The theme of the Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 is 'stand together'. Nearly 14 years ago I stood in front of a museum case in Poland containing beautiful hand-stitched baby garments. I was a visitor in the museum site of Auschwitz-Birkenau . I stood and wept. Some mother or grandmother had lovingly prepared those garments for a child who probably never lived to grow out of them or may never have worn them. Were they confiscated when a carefully packed suitcase was emptied on arrival at the death camp. So much hope for the baby's future must have gone into those stitches. Were those loving stitches wasted when the hope for that particular child died? Maybe not. As a mother and grandmother, as I stood by that display I felt for a few moments that I was the mother or grandmother of that baby f...

'Don't stand by' is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day this year.  27 January is the day chosen for this annual commemoration because it is the anniversay of the day that the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau were liberated by the Soviet army in 1945. The purpose of the day is not only to remember the Holocaust and the Nazi persecution of Jews, but also subsequent genocides and to learn the lessons of history. No genocide takes place in isolation. Behind every genocide is a process that create the conditions in which mass murder of particular peoples becomes possible. It starts with things like lack of respect for others, prejudice, stereotyping of groups of people, seeing those who are different as inferior or to be feared or blamed. This can progress to hate crimes - things that happen now and every single day in the UK and around the world.  This year's HMD theme is intended to encourage us not to simply stand by and ignore what we see to be happeni...

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. It is also the 70th anniversary of the day the Red Army began to liberate the notorious concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. What happened in that place and other places in Nazi-occupied Europe was not the first genocide the world has known and was not the last. In many horrifying ways it is a present reality for some minority groups in today's world. The challenges for all of us are: to face up to the truth about the dreadful capability of humankind to think, say and do evil; to commit our energies to think, say and do the sort of good that could make a reality of the slogan 'never again'. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch identified 8 stages in the process that leads to genocide. I n 2013 he updated this to 10 . He says that: "Genocide is a process that develops in ten stages that are predictable but not inexorable. At each stage, preventive measures can stop it. The process is not linear. Stages may occur s...

'Communities together: Build a Bridge' is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2013.  Since 2001 in the UK the 27th January each year is designated as a day to learn lessons from genocides, with the aim of creating a better future and challenge hatred and persecution in the UK today. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chose 27 January because it is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 1945. Has humanity learned the lessons from the genocides of Nazi persecution? It seems not: consider Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and many more tragic destruction and persecution of communities of people. Remembering is important, but it is not enough. What can any of us do to prevent repetition? Take a look at this video 'Lessons Learnt?'  To show your support you can 'build a bridge' for Holocaust Memorial Day Trust site here.   

27 January Is Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK - a day I have not been able to ignore since visiting the Holocaust Museum at Auschwitz in 2006.   Today is an opportunity to  to go on learning the lessons from history, not just from the Holocaust and Nazi persecution in World War 2, but also from subsequent genocides in many places in the world, such as Cambodia, Bosnia, Ruanda, Darfur. This year the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is challenging us to consider what we see and hear around us and to use our voices to speak up against hatred and discrimination. Words are powerful. They can contribute to the common good and built up community. They can also hurt and destroy. Even one voice is powerful. The Speak Up, Speak Out campaign asks us to think about the language we use in person or on line when speaking about other people. Using derogatory terms about another person or group is to dehumanise them. It is a step along a road which at its extreme end leads to genocide. Th...

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. It is 65 years since 27 January 1945, the day the Soviet army liberated the largest of the Nazi concentration camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau.   As a teenager I first learned about that place and others like it after reading the Diary of Ann Frank. Later I learned much more. The horror really came home to me in 2006 when I went to Poland and visited the museum site of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It wasn't the railway track, the huts, the vast area covered by these 2 camps, or being led with other tourists into a gas chamber, that got me. It was a small glass museum case containing beautiful hand-stitched baby garments. Some mother or grandmother had lovingly prepared these for a child who never lived to grow out of them and who probably never wore them. So much hope for the baby's future must have gone into those stitches. For  what? So a mother and grandmother like me can weep over them decades later? And remember that gen...