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Holocaust Memorial Day Next Wednesday marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
Rightly, January 27 has become Holocaust Memorial Day - honouring the memory of the millions of adults and children who have died at the hands of evil regimes.
On this key day it is vital to reflect on how we can work together to properly educate people about the dangers of anti-semitism, racism and all other forms of discrimination and evil.
I believe most decent local people would disagree with the Conservative Party leader who, just two years ago, dismissed Government funding to allow North East Somerset students to visit the Auschwitz death camp as a ‘gimmick’. To fully understand the horrors of the Holocaust, visiting Auschwitz is a shocking necessity. Few local youngsters can do this without financial support.
The Lessons from Auschwitz project, run by the Holocaust Educational Trust with Government funding, has helped the understanding of thousands of young people nationwide. They’ve then shared what they learned with others as ambassadors in their own school communities.
This hugely important scheme raises awareness of past evil and directly challenges the awful prejudice and racism that, if left unchecked, allows such atrocities to happen. Written for the Somerset Guardian January 2010
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