NEWS RELEASE

I issued the following press release on 25.01.2006

MPs PLEDGE COMMITMENT TOHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

To commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday 27th January, the Holocaust Educational Trust has organised for Members of Parliament to sign the Holocaust Memorial Day Book of Commitment to honour the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and pay tribute to the bravery of those who risked their lives to help the persecuted.

From Monday 23rd January to Wednesday 25th January the Book of Commitment will be placed in the House of Commons for Members to sign. 

Lynne Jones MP, pictured signing the book said: “We must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust. Remembering the evil of fascism from the past compels us to fight racism and anti-Semitism today. We all have an obligation and role in combating bias and hate and Holocaust Memorial Day is one way to confront it.”

On January 27th schools, universities and local communities throughout the country will mark Britain’s sixth Holocaust Memorial Day. Hundreds of events are being held across Britain to commemorate all those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis in the Holocaust.

 

Birmingham will be commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday 29 January in the Adrian Boult Hall and Lynne Jones will be attending the event.

 

This year’s theme, ‘One Person Can Make a Difference,’ celebrates the courage of the rescuers and helpers who enabled the persecuted to survive and gave them hope and friendship in a time of loneliness and despair.  The theme also offers every single person in the country the opportunity to challenge their own current behaviour and moral choices, forcing themselves to ask the question – ‘What would I have done if I had been there?’

 

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For more information click on the Holocaust Educational Trust logo:

 

Notes for Editors

 

1.         The purpose of Holocaust Memorial Day is to remember the horrors of the Holocaust and those who perished. The day aims to ensure that the horrendous crimes against humanity committed during the Holocaust are never forgotten, and its relevance for each new generation is understood.

2.         This is the first Holocaust Memorial Day to be organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a registered charity. In September, Her Majesty the Queen agreed to be the HMD Trust Patron.

3.         For the first time since 27 January was designated as the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day, this date falls on a Friday which has implications for a number of faiths. Consequently the national event will take place on the evening of Thursday 26 January 2006. 

4.         Details of the national event in Cardiff on 26th January and associated events across the rest of the UK are available on the Holocaust Memorial Day website at www.holocaustmemorialday.gov.uk.

5.         The Holocaust Educational Trust has been closely involved in the establishment and development of Holocaust Memorial Day since its inception in 2000. We are represented on all working groups dealing with education, local activities, the main event and at a strategic level.

6.         Holocaust Memorial Day came about following an MP’s visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau with the Holocaust Educational Trust. Moved by his visit, Andrew Dismore MP proposed a bill, “to introduce a day to learn and remember the Holocaust” June 30 1999.

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