This year’s local Holocaust Memorial Day Candle-lighting Commemoration will take place on Thursday 29th January 2009 at 6.30pm in the Peace Garden, Lancaster Town Hall. This year the theme of the event is “Stand Up To Hatred”.
“Hatred of others was one of the driving forces of the Nazi regime,” explains Liz Neat of National Coalition Building Institute Lancashire, who are co-ordinating the event. “The hurt and damage caused by hatred, can have lasting effects on individuals, communities and whole countries. It may take the form of bullying at school, cruelty in the home, war or institutionalised torture throughout a whole country.”
The Day — the anniversary of the date of the liberation of Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau — primarily marks the memory of those killed by the Nazis both in the years before and during the Second World War. While Jews were the primary victims of Nazi hatred, others killed or persecuted include European Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), gay men and lesbians, the physically and mentally disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political opponents, including trade unionists, and Soviet prisoners of war.
The Candle-lighting Commemoration will be followed by a talk and discussion at The Dukes.
“This year we are broadening out the scope of the event from commemoration of those who died in the Holocaust,” says Councillor Catriona Stamp, one of the organisers, “and the important part that each individual can play in ending hatred in our local communities today.”
Titled “Unspeakable Truths – Hatred and Justice in Chile since the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990)” the talk is being given by David Sugarman, Professor of Law, Director of the Centre for Law and Society at Lancaster University and will start at 8.00pm.
“The example of Chile helps us consider what can be done on an international scale to bring about justice,” says Catriona.
The Dukes is showing the critically-acclaimed film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas on the 27th and 28th January.
Exhibitions about the Holocaust are on now at the Dukes and Lancaster Library, organised in conjunction with Holocaust Memorial Day.
• For further information contact NCBI Lancashire on 01524 383899 or email ncbilancsATncbi.org.uk.
The National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) is an international non-profit leadership-training organisation, which has been working throughout the world to create productive teams and communities through eliminating discrimination, raising awareness and mutual respect and teaching practical skills to this end.
• Holocaust Memorial Day web site
• More information about The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas on The Dukes web site