Information on Loughborough

Moving Ceremony for Genocide Victims

Posted on 20/01/2009

VICTIMS of genocide will be remembered at a moving ceremony organised by Charnwood Borough Council next week.

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on Tuesday, January 27th and the Mayor of Charnwood, Cllr Stephen Campbell, will lead the remembrance at Loughboroughs Queens Park at 1pm.

Everyone attending the event " which takes place on the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz " will be invited to lay a pebble on the Holocaust Memorial Stone close to the bandstand in the park.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2009 is Stand Up To Hatred and its the ninth year that the Council have arranged a commemoration.

Cllr Richard Shepherd (Conservative councillor for Quorn & Mountsorrel Castle), the Leader of Charnwood Borough Council said: "We are looking forward to our local community coming together to remember victims of the Holocaust and those whose lives have been affected by discrimination.

"The Stand up to Hatred theme helps us to think about the impact of how hatred can become normalised and the damaging impact it has on our communities.

"We will be using Holocaust Memorial Day as an opportunity to pay our tributes to people who have been damaged by hatred and to protect against exclusion.

Before the ceremony, an exhibition titled The Boys: Triumph over Adversity will be opened at Charnwood Museum at 12.30pm.

The exhibition " which is running until March 1st " tells the story of a group of young Holocaust survivors who came to Britain after the Second World War and is based on the book by eminent historian Sir Martin Gilbert

Anthony Gimpel, a member of Charnwoods Holocaust Memorial Day Organising Committee, added: "When you say the word Holocaust, people instantly think of the Second World War and think its gone away.

"But thats not the case and there are many examples of atrocities taking place around the world today. Genocide is still a real problem which needs addressing.

To find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day, log on to www.hmd.org.uk.