Today is Holocaust Memorial Day when we remember and honour those who were murdered and suffered during the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups and in the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
The UK Ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day will be streamed from 7–8pm tonight (Thursday 27 January) and it can be watched live here.
The ceremony will end with a candle lighting ritual. As Holocaust and genocide survivors light the commemorative candles on our screens, organisers are asking the nation to join in and ‘Light the darkness’ by lighting a candle and placing it in their windows at 8pm.
The theme for HMD 2022 is One Day.
Olivia Marks Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, explains: “Survivors of the Holocaust and of genocide often talk about the One Day when everything changed, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for better. One Day is just a snapshot in time and therefore cannot give the full context, the background that is needed, but it can help bring a piece of the full picture to life.
“By taking One Day to remember the victims and honouring the survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides we need to use this to redouble our efforts to speak out when we see injustices, prejudices, and identity-based violence.
“Please join us online and promote HMD in your constituencies in the hope that there may be One Day in the future with no genocide.”
The National Scottish Holocaust Memorial Ceremony was held online yesterday. It was produced by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust in close collaboration with Edinburgh Interfaith Association, with funding from the Scottish Government.
The Most Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, contributed to a poem led by faith and belief representatives during the programme, reading part of We Remember Them by Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer.
The poem recital can be watched here from the 25:22 mark.
The programme also includes contributions from Holocaust Survivor Henry Wuga, Rwandan genocide survivor against the Tutsi Eric Eugene Murangwa, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon and Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Shona Robison.
