Holocaust Memorial Day 2021

 

I attended a very moving online Holocaust Memorial service broadcast from Leeds Town Hall.  The theme for commemorating this year’s Holocaust Memoria Day is “be the light in the darkness”.

Speakers included Holocaust survivors, many of whom settled in Leeds, who related their experiences and remembering family members who perished. 

“Never again” is the slogan used when we talk about the Holocaust, yet we heard from survivors of genocides which have taken place since then; Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.  We heard about the plight of the Uyghur Muslims in China and the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar which are still happening today.

We must learn from the past to create a better future.  In the words of the author and camp survivor Elie Wiesel who experienced the unimaginable events of the Holocaust, “Whomever listens to a witness becomes one themself”. For me, this means we must not stand by and allow such oppression in our lifetime.