Human Rights
Today remember Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day
Every year since 2000, on 27th January the world marks Holocaust Memorial Day.
For many of us the Holocaust is something that we have read about or been taught in our history lessons at school. Maybe we will have seen some of the horrendous black and white footage of the first British soldiers to enter into the Nazi concentration camps at the end of the Second World War or seen some of the countless television films which have sought to depict the horror. Either way the scenes, the images are beyond words and beyond belief.
Today as I reflect on the Holocaust, as someone who spends his life teaching and training on human rights, equality and justice, two images speak to my own personal memory.
One was a visit some twenty years ago when I went to the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem and walked through the museum in silence watching the unspeakable horror of humanity’s inhumanity as each room told of yet more indescribable barbarity before I came to a corridor where a small candle burnt its hope in front of a wall naming the never to be forgotten millions.
The second was a visit to a Prague museum which was holding a temporary exhibition last January of the writings, belongings and most movingly the drawings of children who were spending their last few days of life in the concentration camps. Despite the squalid conditions the optimism, the hope, the innocence of their work was beautiful and tragic on the same canvas.
Two memories, personal and individual. Two memories which can only begin to grasp at the horror of such desecration. Two memories which inspire me to make sure that Holocaust Memorial Day is something that gives energy and purpose and meaning to my day to day work.
Some time, somewhere, spend a moment today and remember the victims of the Holocaust.
Remember the Jews and Protestants; the atheists and believers; the homosexuals and straight; the Gypsies and Communists; the learning disabled and the schizophrenic; remember the children and the mothers; the grandfathers and the sons.
Remember.
The Statement of Commitment.
•we recognise that the Holocaust shook the foundations of modern civilisation. Its unprecedented character and horror will always hold universal meaning
•we believe the Holocaust must have a permanent place in our nation’s collective memory. We honour the survivors still with us, and reaffirm our shared goals of mutual understanding and justice
•we must make sure that future generations understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences. We vow to remember the victims of Nazi persecution and of all genocides
•we value the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives to protect or rescue victims, as a touchstone of the human capacity for good in the face of evil
•we recognise that humanity is still scarred by the belief that race, religion, disability or sexuality make some people’s lives worth less than others’. Genocide, anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia and discrimination still continue. We have a shared responsibility to fight these evils
•we pledge to strengthen our efforts to promote education and research about the Holocaust and other genocides. We will do our utmost to make sure that the lessons of such events are fully learnt
•we will continue to encourage Holocaust remembrance by holding an annual UK Holocaust Memorial Day. We condemn the evils of prejudice, discrimination and racism. We value a free, respectful, and democratic society
Dr Donald Macaskill
