Holocaust Remembrance Day Vigil and Commemoration Garden of Remembrance, Lancaster Town Hall, and The Gregson
28 January 2004

Holocaust Remembrance Day marked the fifty-ninth anniversary of the liberation of the survivors from the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by Russian soldiers. The national theme for this year's event was "Genocide in Rwanda", reminding us that racial purges and ethnic cleansing are still carried on in the world today. Our correspondent Michael Nunn reports on the event:

Moving, serene and dignified
Braving last night's freezing conditions, some one hundred souls lit candles, thought prayerfully and reflected silently, listened to commendations, commemorations and commitments and marched through the City centre streets to ensure that the atrocities of the Holocaust are never repeated.

It was, literally, a chilling experience. Other feelings were detectable: loss, dismay, hope, positive affirmation, grieving, even some anger. Each person there will have come with their own concerns, but the overall sense of commitment to fight prejudice and discrimination was almost palpable.

Among those one hundred souls were members of the Travelling community who, having being victims of Hitler's purges, were represented for the first time at last night's event. The commemoration was, appropriately, formally opened by the Mayor of Lancaster, and there was a handful of local councillors from the Greens, Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party (I saw no-one from the Conservatives or the MBIs).

There were also people of all ages, and all sorts of conditions of men -- and women. There were wheelchair users and other disabled, non-whites, young and old, gay and straight -- in other words, the whole community reflected in its support and commitment for the Holocaust event.

Most striking, and particularly reassuring for me, was the number of young people present. As part of a contingent of a dozen or so gay men and women, eight young men and women form the local Gay Youth Group were there, some of them filming the event as part of a project to combat discrimination.

This youth presence is vitally important to ensure that the event not only marked historical events in the past. It is only they who can carry on the struggles of the various sectors of society against oppression, discrimination and prejudice beyond our lifetimes. Our own futures, and those of our children, are in the hands of the young people of today.

Stood in front of the Town Hall was a Community Security Officer. This struck me as a welcome sign of the City's and the local Police's concern for the safety of the participants, but could have been seen by some as a grim reminder of the militia who stood by as the round-ups took place and the 'dissidents' were herded into cattle trucks on their way to

annihilation.

Photo © John L. Burkinshaw

We, however, made a different journey, led by candles and lanterns up Moor Lane to the warmth of The Gregson, where a special menu of Middle Eastern food was available. As people shared their own personal experiences, memories and aspirations of their own cultures in the light of the Holocaust, you could feel the 'bonding' between the diverse groups. Gay embraced Bhuddist, Travellers talked with Councillors, mental health issues were discussed alongside discrimination against Jews in India. Brecht poetry and liberation-inspired art complemented family memories of relatives who had survived Belsen.

Some felt that they were proud, humbled, and honoured to be there, and there was more than one tearful eye too. But the atmosphere changed as peace dancing and other musical entertainment began, and the emphasis changed to celebration.

As the peace dancing started, one appropriately sombrely dressed member of The Gregson staff commented that, even so, the atmosphere was "calm and serene." He was right. It had been a very dignified, moving and positive evening.

FURTHER LINKS
NEW ITEMS
BBC News
• Holocaust survivors return to Lakes
15/1/04: A group of Holocaust survivors have made an emotional return to the Lake District 60 years after they were brought there as children to recover from their war experiences.
• Northern Ireland hosts holocaust memorial
27/1/04: Hundreds of people have attended the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day in Belfast.
Nobel prize winner Seamus Heaney read a poem by Bertolt Brecht before the audience was asked to participate in a solemn moment of reflection in the Waterfront Hall.
• Image from Auschwitz
27/1/04: Former prisoners of Auschwitz prison camp in Poland marked the anniversary of its liberation from the Nazis on Tuesday.
• New anti-genocide proposal agreed
28/1/04: Delegates at an international summit on preventing genocide have vowed to stop any repetition of the mass killings seen in World War II.

The Guardian
• Manchester stages transit camp children's opera
The Guardian, 28/1/04: An opera performed by Jewish children 60 years ago in a Nazi transit camp was heard again in Manchester yesterday to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
• Belfast Holocaust event report
The Guardian, 27/1/04
• Man's continuing inhumanity to man
The Guardian, 27/1/04: On Holocaust Memorial Day, Judith Kneen looks at how classroom discussions can bring into focus acts of cruelty and immorality from both the past and the present
• The Death Pit
The Guardian, 27/1/04: A horrific photograph of an execution in eastern Europe during the second world war can be seen in Holocaust archives and museums around the world. But who are the killers, who are the victims, who took it - and why? Janina Struk felt compelled to investigate

The Times
• The Times Leader
27/1/04
• Joint letter to the Times from Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, with Chief Rabbi
27/1/04

BOOKS
• Photographing the Holocaust - Interpretations of the Evidence
by Janina Struk, published by I.B. Tauris in association with the European Jewish Publication Society

GENERAL LINKS

• Holocaust Memorial Day
Statement of Commitment read by Lancaster's Mayor from Home Office. You can sign up to support that Commitment from this page

Your own memories, experiences, concerns about the Holocaust are welcome as are other web links on the subject. Send letters to our letters page, please.