Holocaust Memorial Day was marked in Bradford with an event in City Hall today (Friday, January 27).
The annual day - 78 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau - remembers the millions of victims of genocide around the world.
The event - hosted by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Martin Love - was organised in partnership with trustees from Bradford Reform Synagogue.
There was a welcome from the Lord Mayor followed by messages from Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe, Kersten England, Bradford Council’s chief executive and Charles Dacres, director of the Bradford Hate Crime Alliance
Poems were read by pupils from Belle Vue Girls Academy and Eden Boys Leadership Academy.
This year’s speaker was Hanneke Dye, who is a Dutch Jewish child survivor and accomplished speaker on the Holocaust, who lives in the Craven district near Skipton.
Other speakers at the event were the Bishop of Bradford Toby Howarth, Mohammed Amran, CEO of Council of Mosques, and Rabbi Anthony Gilbert.
A candle-lighting ceremony brought the event to a close, with the Lord Mayor lighting the first candle.
This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is Ordinary People.
Ordinary People were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups,and in genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
Ordinary People were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and Ordinary People were victims.
Yesterday (Thursday, January 26) pupils from Belle Vue Girls Academy, Eden Boys Leadership Academy, Laisterdyke Academy and Appleton Academy gathered in the Council Chamber at Bradford City Hall to take part in a debate on genocide.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “Holocaust Memorial Day offers local people from all backgrounds and communities the opportunity to reflect and remember the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and other genocides.”
The Lord Mayor added: “Each year that we mark Holocaust Memorial Day becomes even more poignant as the number of survivors alive to share their testimony dwindles.
"This event gives the opportunity to remember those who have died in past genocides and recognise the suffering of those who are affected by the impact of more recent atrocities across the world.”
At 4pm, people across the UK took part in a national moment for Holocaust Memorial Day by lighting candles and safely putting them in their windows.
This was to remember those who were murdered for who they were and to stand against prejudice and hatred today.
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