Today is Holocaust Memorial Day – the day to remember and reflect on the Holocaust, all forms of Nazi persecution, and the genocides which have taken place since. Today’s commemoration has particular significance, marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. It is likely to be the last major commemoration where significant numbers of Holocaust survivors who have a memory of the events will still be with us. In recognition of this, the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 is ‘Keep the memory alive’ – setting a challenge for us all to ensure that the memories of Holocaust survivors are preserved and passed on for future generations.
At the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust we challenged ourselves to find a way to present and share the life stories of genocide survivors in an engaging way. The result is our ‘Memory Makers’ project. We approached nine artists, working in a range of different media, from poetry to collage, and paired them with Holocaust and genocide survivors. We filmed their initial encounters, and asked the artists to respond to hearing the survivors’ stories by producing a piece of art. The results can be seen at keepthememoryalive.hmd.org.uk – and include a powerful essay by Stephen Fry, a deeply moving animated film by Gemma Green-Hope, and the beginnings of an exciting year-long conceptual piece of art by ceramicist Clare Twomey. One set of artistic responses – ‘Moving Portraits’ of survivors – will be shown on city centre big screens across the country. Each of the artworks allows people to engage with a survivors’ story – we hope that thousands of people will take this opportunity and share a story with their friends.
As well as commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day online, people have the opportunity to mark HMD at events and activities in their communities and workplaces. We’re expecting more than 2,500 activities to take place this year, in every part of the UK.
To draw more attention to the variety of events taking place across the UK, we have commissioned internationally-renowned sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor to produce a special commemorative candle for this year’s HMD. Seventy specially-chosen events will be lighting one of these candles, representing the 70 years which have passed since the liberation of the Nazi camps. The commemorative candles will also be lit at this year’s UK commemorative event for HMD, which will be broadcast this evening on BBC Two at 7pm.
The aim of all this activity is simple – to encourage us all to take a moment on the 27 January to remember, to reflect, and to learn. A common reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust was to exclaim ‘never again!’ – but genocide has taken place since the Holocaust – in Cambodia, in Rwanda, in Bosnia, and in Darfur. The lessons of the Holocaust have not been learnt by humanity. HMD is an opportunity to raise awareness of the threat posed by genocide across the world, and to challenge the behaviour which can enable genocide to take place. The recent attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris has highlighted how the poison of antisemitism remains present in Europe. Let’s use the opportunity of this Holocaust Memorial Day to challenge the evils of racism, prejudice and dehumanisation wherever we find it.
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Mark Harrison is communications manager at the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
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