The Chair of Bath & North East Somerset Council, Councillor Karen Walker, is to host a special ceremony to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Thursday 24th January.
The Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in 1945
Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by Allied Forces on 27th January 1945, towards the end of the Second World War.
The day has been marked in the UK since 2000.
Councillor Walker said: “The Holocaust Memorial Day theme for 2019 is ‘Torn from Home’. We will remember the children who arrived in Britain on the ‘Kindertransport’ trains 80 years ago, in 1938 and 1939.
“Their parents in Germany had to make the heart-breaking decision to send them away to safety, to be looked after by British families, including many in Bath.
“The children spoke no English and arrived with just one small suitcase, to start a new life. Many never saw their parents again.
“This is an opportunity for us to reflect, not only on the Holocaust but also on other human tragedies – the Vietnam War, the Bosnian War of the 1990s, and Rwanda – and to renew our commitment to human rights.”
The Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration is a free event and will take place on Thursday 24th January at 5.30pm at the Guildhall, in the Alkmaar Room.
Those wishing to attend should contact the Chair’s Office on 01225 394235 or [email protected]. Organisers would like to know if those attending have any particular access requirements.
