East Devon Council to share virtual Holocaust Day memorial this evening

An online ceremony remembering the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust will be shared by East Devon District Council this evening.

The council commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day every year on January 27 – the day that Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated.

Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the council's chair Councillor Cathy Gardner is unable to host an event at the authority's headquarters, Blackdown House in Honiton.

But people can attend a virtual ceremony held by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, between 7pm and 8pm.

The trust promotes and supports Holocaust Memorial Day, which remembers all the people murdered in the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Its website states: "The Holocaust threatened the fabric of civilisation, and genocide must still be resisted every day. The world often feels fragile and vulnerable and no one can be complacent.

"Even in the UK, prejudice and the language of hatred must be challenged by everyone."

Cllr Gardner said: "Despite Covid-19, it remains important to remember all those that died during the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. I hope that the online ceremony will be well attended."