Service held to remember victims of the Holocaust

Jan 28 2008

"WE must always remember what happened. If we don't learn from what happened in the past, how can we prevent future genocide."

 That was the stark message from Auschwitz survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon during a poignant city memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

More than 60 years after millions died at the hands of the Nazis, hundreds of people gathered in Birmingham to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.

It also gave people the chance to remember genocides in places such as Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The 81-year-old Polish Jew gave the gathered group at the University of Birmingham's Great Hall a first-hand account of surviving the death camps and told why they should never be forgotten.

As a teenager she hid in sewers to escape the Nazis before being betrayed and taken to Auschwitz where she saw first hand the sickening impact of the gas chambers. "It's more important today to remember than ever before when you look at the violence in the world," she said.

"For 50 years nobody was listening. We have had more genocides, not on the same scale, but where people are getting killed for no good reason. If we don't learn anything, we are going to repeat it."

Her sobering survival story echoed the theme of the Memorial Day, a call to action to remember the past, reflect on the present, and react to create a better future.

People from all faiths united to join in a minute's silence, readings and a candle lighting ceremony.

Coun Ray Hassall, cabinet member for Leisure, Sport and Culture, said: "The commemoration gave people a chance to come together and remember victims of the Holocaust and all those who have suffered terror, persecution and intolerance since then because of their cultures and beliefs."

Holocaust Memorial Day is the internationally agreed date for remembering victims of genocide and violent conflict throughout the world. It marks the date of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.