Holocaust Memorial Day, London

Tuesday 27 January was Holocaust Memorial Day. In London a low-key event was held in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum, at Southwark Council’s Holocaust Memorial tree and also at the nearby Soviet War Memorial.

Remembrance of the Holocaust – the genocide by the Nazi’s of Jews and other communities in Europe - on one specific day each year is intended to draw attention to the dangers of intolerance and hatred against race, religion, gender and indeed any aspect where people whether as individuals, groups or communities are marginalized or attacked physically or verbally. This event also remembered the 27 million people in former Soviet countries who suffered at the hands of Nazi aggression and oppression.

Present at the event and laying wreaths of remembrance were the Mayor of Southwark Cllr. Eliza Mann, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey Mr. Simon Hughes, Ambassador of the Russian Federation His Excellency Yury Fedotov along with Ambassadors or embassy representatives and Military Attaches of Azerbaijan, Krgyzstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation. Also present were former servicemen who had fought in the war against the Nazi’s. Rev. Alan Greenbat of the Chief Rabbi’s office led prayers in memorial of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. In their speeches the Mayor of Southwark spoke of the London borough’s population comprising of peoples from fifty different countries or religious backgrounds and the inherent need for everyone getting along, and local MP Simon Hughes spoke of the importance of remembering the Holocaust as a reminder of intolerance and hatred and referred to the recent spate of youth violence and specifically the murder of a young person locally just because they attended a different school to their attacker.