The annual day chosen to remember the millions of victims of genocide around the world will be marked by Bradford Council on Friday the 27 January 2023 this marks the 78th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
On behalf of the Bradford district, the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Martin Love will host this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day event at City Hall between 10.30am and 11.30am on Friday 27 January.
The event has been organised in partnership with trustees from Bradford Reform Synagogue.
There will be a welcome from the Lord Mayor followed by messages from the Leader of the Council Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council’s Chief Executive Kersten England and Director of Bradford Hate Crime Alliance Charles Dacres.
Poems will be read by pupils from Belle Vue Girls Academy and Eden Boys Leadership Academy.
This year’s speaker will be Hanneke Dye, who is a Dutch Jewish child survivor and accomplished speaker on the Holocaust who lives in the Craven district near Skipton.
Other speakers at the event will be the Bishop of Bradford Toby Howarth, Mohammed Amran, CEO of Council of Mosques and Rabbi Anthony Gilbert.
A candle lighting ceremony will bring the event to a close. The Lord Mayor will light the first candle and all those present will be able to light their own.
This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is Ordinary People.
Ordinary People were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary People were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses – and Ordinary People were victims.
On Thursday 26 January pupils from Belle Vue Girls Academy, Eden Boys Leadership Academy, Laisterdyke Academy and Appleton Academy will gather in the Council Chamber at Bradford City Hall to take part in a debate on genocide.
Bradford Council Leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “Holocaust Memorial Day offers local people from all backgrounds and communities the opportunity to reflect and remember the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and other genocides.”
The Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Martin Love, said: “Each year that we mark Holocaust Memorial Day becomes even more poignant as the number of survivors alive to share their testimony dwindles. This event gives the opportunity to remember those who have died in past genocides and recognise the suffering of those who are affected by the impact of more recent atrocities across the world.”
