On Sunday past Holocaust-related events took place around the world. In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking 60 years to the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. The Archbishop of York’s message on Holocaust Day, and reports of commemorations in the UK and Israel follow.
Churches remember Holocaust victims
Christian Today – Churches across the UK have held special services and said prayers to remember the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked around the world each year on 27 January, the date that Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated 68 years ago.
More than a million people, mostly Jews, died in the camp at the hands of the Nazis.
The day was marked by churches around the theme of Communities Together: Build a Bridge.
Readings and prayers were selected with a view to inspiring closer relations within communities.
The Reverend David Gifford, chief executive of the Council of Christians and Jews, said that the horrors of the conflict in Syria and violence in northern Nigeria were a reminder that the world today still needs bridge builders.
“Holocaust Memorial Day this year points very directly to the fact that our common future with reconciliation and peace in our communities will be a pipe dream unless courageous men and women take the risky and costly path of reaching out to those who are different from themselves,” he said.
Ceremonies of remembrance were also held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and at the Millennium Bridge in London.
David Cameron tweeted his support: “Memorial Day is a day to remember the innocent victims of the Holocaust, and re-commit to combat all forms of racism & prejudice.”
BBC news –
Candles have been lit at ceremonies in London and Staffordshire’s National Memorial Arboretum, 68 years after Auschwitz was liberated.
More than one million people, mostly Jews, died at the Nazi camp before it was liberated by allied troops in 1945.
Organisers say the day also honours victims of genocide around the world.
Some 1,500 events are taking place around the UK on Sunday for Holocaust Memorial Day.
Holocaust survivors, politicians and others gathered at the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust event at the Millennium Bridge in central London, which was along the theme of “building bridges”. More at –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21217940
Archbishop of York’s Holocaust Memorial Day Message
This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day calls us to build bridges together as communities. During the Holocaust and in subsequent genocides, communities that had lived together as neighbours were split apart with one community turning on another.
What began with whispered words and racist taunts ended in violence and unspeakable acts of mass murder.
We cannot assume that just because we live in the same country, city, town or village we will automatically connect with each other. Reaching out to neighbours who are different from ourselves in one way or another is not always easy. And yet it is what our Christian faith calls us to do. As God reaches out to us in Christ in reconciling love, so we are inspired and strengthened to reach out to our neighbours, overcoming fear and ignorance and discovering our common humanity.
‘Building a bridge’ in this way can be as simple as offering a smile or taking the time to strike up a conversation with someone who we may not know very well. When we reach out as communities, for example as a group of friends or as a local church, the bridge becomes even stronger. We have the resources and the encouragement in each other not only to support deeper relationships with another community but also to work with them for the benefit of our wider neighbourhood and society.
As we have seen too often in our history it is in times of austerity that communities turn against one another. Holocaust Memorial Day reminds us that we cannot take for granted the good relations between communities that we enjoy in Britain today. One of the most terrible aspects of some survivors’ stories is the way that neighbours and even friends turned against them. As a sign of our rejection of the hatred that resulted in genocide, may I urge you to sign the Holocaust Memorial Day online statement at http://buildabridge.hmd.org.uk/ and to consider prayerfully and creatively what bridge you and your community might build this year.
Holocaust items put on display for remembrance day
JERUSALEM (AP) — When Stella Knobel’s family fled World War II Poland in 1939, the only thing the 7-year-old girl could take with her was her teddy bear. For the next six years, the stuffed animal never left her side as the family wandered through the Soviet Union, to Iran and finally the Holy Land.
“He was like family. He was all I had. He knew all my secrets,” the 80-year-old said with a smile. “I saved him all these years. But I worried what would happen to him when I died.”
So when she heard about a project launched by Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and museum, to collect artifacts from aging survivors, she reluctantly handed over her beloved bear Misiu, Polish for “teddy bear,” so the memories of the era could be preserved.
“We’ve been through a lot together, so it was hard to let him go,” said Knobel, who was widowed 12 years ago and has no children. “But here he has found a haven.”
More at :
http://news.yahoo.com/holocaust-items-put-display-remembrance-day-170140302.html
Note
Holocaust Memorial Day was created on 27 January 2000, when representatives from 44 governments around the world met in Stockholm to discuss Holocaust education, remembrance and research. At the end of this meeting, all attendees signed a declaration committing to preserving the memory of those who have been murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides. This declaration became the statement of commitment which is still used as a basis for HMD activities today.