The day when the victims of the Holocaust are especially remembered, Holocaust Memorial Day, takes place on 27 January, and it will again be marked by events taking place in Swindon.
The theme for this year’s event is “How can life go on?”.
The aftermath of the Holocaust and of subsequent genocides continues to raise challenging questions for individuals, communities, and nations. HMD 2017 asks audiences to think about what happens after genocide and of our own responsibilities in the wake of such a crime. This year’s theme is broad and open-ended, because there are few known answers.
Holocaust Memorial Day was first marked nationally in 2001, and is now established as an annual day of remembrance. Local authorities, faith and community groups and individuals were asked to take a lead in developing local memorial events and appropriate activities.
In Swindon, we have decided to mark this day and have done so every year of this century. The date, 27 January, marks the day when the Auschwitz concentration camps were liberated in 1945.
The day also encourages people to remember numerous other human rights tragedies around the world, including persecution and wars, past and present, and aims to help raise awareness among young people.Swindon schools have been encouraged to mark it, and have done so in recent years, in imaginative and educational ways.
There will be a short wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Regents Circus in Swindon at 12 noon on Friday 27th January, followed by a gathering for readings and reflection at 12.30 pm at the Friends Meeting House, Eastcott Hill, where light lunchtime refreshments, including sandwiches and hot drinks, will be provided.
The gathering at the Friends Meeting House is expected to last an hour, with readings and presentations by members of many of Swindon’s faith groups and community groups, and school pupils, as well as contributions from individuals.
Anyone with appropriate personal stories or readings is welcome to speak or read at the gathering, and is asked to contact Matt Holland at 01793 771080 or matt@lowershawfarm.co.uk beforehand, or speak to him on the day.
Further information, and a more national perspective, about Holocaust Memorial Day, can be found on the internet, at www.hmd.org.uk
