Diexter Thomas
A LARGE gathering of people marked the end of the Holocaust which killed 17 million people in Nazi Germany during just four years.
The memorial ceremony took place at midday today at a Holocaust Memorial in Commonwealth Park to remember those who perished in the holocaust.
The short ceremony at Commonwealth Park had a good attendance, beginning with a minute’s silence, a short bugle performance and then finishing with a powerful poem being read.
The exact date of January 27 is when 75 years ago the Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp at the end of World War Two.
It marks a very important day for the world as European Leaders say, ‘Never Again’, even in the face of the face of extreme right-wing sentiment across Europe.
The liberation happened on the January 27 1945 and marked the end of the holocaust.
Of those 17 million people, six million were Jews, many who were exterminated in gas chambers at Auschwitz and other camps around Nazi-occupied Europe.
The 11 million other deaths are thought to consist of political rivals, people with different religious beliefs, soviet civilians, prisoners of war, people with disabilities and homosexual men.
Two thirds of Jewish people living in Europe at the time of World War Two were killed by Nazis.
To make sure nothing like the Holocaust happens again, this Memorial Day takes place every year on the January 27 to honour and remember those who died.
Stand together
Every year, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chooses a theme for Holocaust Memorial Day – this year’s is Stand Together.
The theme, the Trust explained, “explores how genocidal regimes throughout history have deliberately fractured societies by marginalising certain groups, and how these tactics can be challenged by individuals standing together with their neighbours, and speaking out against oppression.
“In the years leading up to the Holocaust, Nazi policies and propaganda deliberately encouraged divisions within German society – urging ‘Aryan’ Germans to keep themselves separate from their Jewish neighbours,” the Trust noted.
“The Holocaust, Nazi Persecution of other groups and each subsequent genocide, was enabled by ordinary citizens not standing with their targeted neighbours.
“Today there is increasing division in communities across the UK and the world.
“Now more than ever, we need to stand together with others in our communities in order to stop division and the spread of identity-based hostility in our society.
“Everyone can take some action to support others – by using our voices, presence, platform or influence.”
Unite the Union UK assistant general secretary Diana Holland said the message was vital to us all in the times we are living in.
“At a time when anti-semitism, discrimination, hatred and the same far-right ideologies that fuelled the Holocaust are once again on the rise, we must take action to challenge them and build solidarity in our communities with all our sisters and brothers.
“Standing together against racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and prejudice in all its forms is at the heart of Unite, at the heart of the trade union movement.
“We have to speak out, to act, to ensure all in our workplaces and our communities are safe and respected.”
