Council shines a light on Holocaust Memorial Day 2021

Holocaust Memorial Day video transcript.

Bridgend County Borough Council’s civic offices will be turning purple this week to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2021.

The building will be illuminated to mark this poignant day and to highlight this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme: ‘Be the light in the darkness.’

The theme, which is developed by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), asks all of us to recognise that the responsibility for genocide education and prevention does not lie only with survivors sharing their testimony. Their experiences hold lessons for all of us and it is vital that we listen to their experiences and become witnesses for them.

We have held a public event for a number of years now, to raise awareness of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. Unfortunately, this year, due to the pandemic, we cannot gather in person.

We have, however, put plans in place to mark the day virtually by illuminating our main civic office building and sharing our HMD 2021 video on our social media channels and website. It’s important for us all to reflect, remember and learn from the past and that is why we in Bridgend County Borough commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day each year.

Sadly, anti-Semitism, hatred and genocide has not been confined to the history books but still takes place around the world. We urge all members of our communities to join together virtually, to honour both the victims and the survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, and ask ourselves what we can do collectively, to be the light in the darkness for current and future generations.

Bridgend County Borough Council’s Leader, Councillor Huw David

A video has been created by the council in which the traditional HMD ‘Seven Statements of Commitment’ have been read by community representatives and a candle of remembrance was lit by Mayor of Bridgend County Borough, Councillor Kenneth Watts.

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust encourages the remembrance of Holocaust Memorial Day, the international day on 27 January to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

27 January marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Find out more about Holocaust Memorial Trust.

A UK Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 ceremony will be streamed, online at 7pm on Wednesday 27 January 2021. This will be the first digital ceremony for the trust.

Everyone is invited to register to attend the ceremony. Once you register, you will receive a link to join the ceremony in advance of the event.

The ceremony will run from 7pm to 8pm.

At 8pm, households across the UK have been asked to light candles and safely put them in their windows to:

• remember those who were murdered for who they were
• stand against prejudice and hatred today

#HolocaustMemorialDay #LightTheDarkness