A public service of remembrance for the Holocaust will take place at 2pm on Monday 27 January at St Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich.

 

This annual event commemorates the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated from the terror of the Holocaust in the Second World War, a time when millions of people were discriminated against and separated from their communities under Nazi persecution.

 

It is a day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, as well as the millions of people killed under Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

 

This year’s national commemoration has the theme ‘Stand Together’, and will also mark the 25th anniversary of the Genocide in Bosnia.

 

Through the theme, all communities are encouraged to stand together to stop division and the spread of hatred in our society.

 

The service will be led by Reverend Fiona Haworth, Associate Priest of St Peter Mancroft Church, and Rabbi Roderick Young, member of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation and the Norwich Liberal Jewish Community.

 

A greeting by the Lord Mayor of Norwich, Councillor Vaughan Thomas will precede hymns, prayers, survivor testimonies from the Holocaust and Bosnian genocide and candle lighting by local schoolchildren.

 

An exhibition by local schools  exploring this year’s theme will be on display in the church from Monday 21 January to Sunday 2 February.

 

To find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day, visit www.hmd.org.uk