Lancaster Holocaust Memorial Day
Over 100 people attended Lancaster Holocaust Memorial Day events at the Town Hall in Lancaster on Thursday 24th January. Candles were lit for the various group persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime; Jews, Roma & Gypsies, gay men and lesbians, people with disabilities, political activists, and those targeted for their religious beliefs.
Speaking at the memorial candle lighting event Cllr Catriona Stamp said, ‘Six million Jews were murdered in Nazi Germany in a systematic, state-sponsored campaign of persecution and extermination now known as the Holocaust. Between 3 and 5 million other people were persecuted, imprisoned and murdered. The tragedies of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur show that the international community, and each of us as citizens, has not truly understood the lessons of the Holocaust. “
This year the event inside Lancaster Town Hall featured performances by the Dukes Youth Theatre, Lizzie Hare and music by a local klezmer band. The young people were given the theme ‘‘Imagine …. remember, reflect, react.’’, and created their own performances.
The events were part of a wider week of commemoration, co-ordinated by NCBI Lancashire, which included a lecture on the Holocaust in film at the Dukes theatre, a evening of music & dance at Lancaster Priory and discussion panels in local schools.