COMMUNITY groups united today in Bradford to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. 

More than 100 people from communities across the city attended a ceremony, organised by Bradford Council at City Hall. 

Speakers included the Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Joanne Dodds and Bradford Council leader David Green.

Cllr Dodds said: "The horrors of genocide should never again be perpetrated.

"We bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and will never forget its lessons.

"We should no longer stand by but stand up."

Councillor Green spoke about the theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day, Don't Stand By, and said it was up to individuals to challenge the mindset of those who use language against other cultures. 

"In Bradford we work hard to work together. 

"Communities of different faiths and different cultures work together, he said.

"We need to make sure we don't stand by and let these things happen in the future. There is a slippery slope to where we don't want to go."

Albert Waxman, 91, of Staveley Road, Shipley, who attended the service, escaped persecution in Nazi Germany in 1939 on the Kindertransport and eventually found a home in Bradford. 

His family had travelled across Europe to Number 1, Parkfield Road, after escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport, bringing 10,000 Jewish children to safety.

Mr Waxman was 14 when he came to Bradford, from Saarbrucken in Germany, and was the only child in his town chosen for the Kindertransport.

He said: "It's important to remember the Holocaust victims. It is an emotional day for me.

"Out of the 25 boys, I was the only one who found my parents again after the war."

This evening, a Holocaust Memorial Day vigil was held in City Park

Rudi Leavor, chairman of the Bradford Synagogue, sang the Jewish mourning song El Male Rachamim to close the ceremony. 

Students from schools including Lapage Primary School and Grange Technology College read poems about the holocaust and other genocides since. 

The guest speaker was Hanneke Dye, who talked about her experiences as a child hidden in an attic from the Nazis. 

Elsewhere, Bradford College students recalled their visit to Srebrenica – the town in Bosnia where more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in the genocide in 1995 – to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The college's film and photography students travelled to the Balkans in June last year with the charity Remembering Srebrenica.

Their documentary about the trip was screened to fellow students and staff at the college today. 

Bradford South Labour MP Judith Cummins signed the Holocaust Educational Trust's Book of Commitment, pledging her commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust.

Ms Cummins said: "As the Holocaust moves from living history, to just history, it becomes ever more important that we take the time to remember the victims and also pay tribute to the survivors. I would encourage my constituents to show their support for such an important day."