Holocaust Memorial Day: standing together

Today, 27 January, is Holocaust Memorial Day, and this year it marks exactly 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

UNISON marked the event with an event at UNISON centre, attended by hundreds of staff.

There was a minute’s silence and the lighting of a candle of remembrance to honour the victims of the Nazi regime and those murdered during modern genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Speeches were given by Dave Prentis, Georgia Gould, the leader of Camden council, local MP Keir Starmer, UNISON president Josie Bird, Hope not Hate deputy director Jemma Levene and UNISON national officer Ruth Levin, whose family history archive was on display at the event.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Today, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism are growing problems that cannot be allowed take hold. We must never forget the bitter consequence of turning a blind eye to hate.

“If society again stands by while neighbours, colleagues, friends or relatives are singled out for ridicule, isolation or worse, we won’t have learned the lessons of the past.

“We have the opportunity to create a better, fairer future for everyone – regardless of colour, religion or belief – and we must grasp that opportunity now.”

Holocaust denial remains a serious problem in the UK. A survey carried out by Opinion Matters for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust found that 5% of adults in the UK (2.6million people) did not believe the Holocaust happened at all, while one in 12 believed the scale had been exaggerated.

Of those polled, 45% said they did not know how many people were killed in the Holocaust, while one in five (19%) believed that fewer than two million Jews were murdered. The actual figure was six million.

UNISON president Josie Bird connected the traumatic journeys of Jewish refugees to the existing hostility the UK government displays towards people fleeing to safety.

She said: “Today there are 4,000 unaccompanied child refugees living in camps in Greece and France. Their families wait for them in the UK. UNISON is proud to stand with Lord Alf Dubs in his fight to protect them in the face of an uncaring government.”

The article Holocaust Memorial Day: standing together first appeared on the UNISON National site.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8239598 https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2020/01/holocaust-memorial-day-standing-together/
via IFTTT

source https://childrensplayareadesigns.tumblr.com/post/190497153817