A MEMORIAL service for Holocaust Memorial Day is being held today (Thursday) at Solihull Council.
It takes place at 11am on January 26 at the Council’s Civic Suite.
The event, which will last for around an hour, includes guest speaker George Vulkan, Rabbi Yehuda Pink, the Mayor of Solihull Councillor Ken Meeson, the Solihull chief superintendent Andy Beard and Meriden MP Saqib Bhatti is also planning to attend.
Poetry readings will be given by students from Langley School, whilst musicians from Solihull School will perform Spiegel im Spiegel, composed by Arvo Pärt, to open the event.
Every year, this day of remembrance prompts residents to think of those affected by the Holocaust, as well as more recent genocides such as those in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur.
January 27 marks the anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland by Allied forces in 1945.
This year’s theme is “ordinary people” – a call for ‘everyday’ citizens to stand up to various forms of persecution that still exist today, rather than passively facilitating it through indifference or inaction.
The Mayor of Solihull, Councillor Ken Meeson, said: “The Holocaust threatened the very fabric of civilisation.
“It is vitally important that we come together each year to reflect on such appalling atrocities and to understand the circumstances which gave rise to them.
“Holocaust Memorial Day allows us to learn from the past and highlights our duty to resist genocide, and the discrimination and hatred that leads to it, for a better future.”
Residents are welcome to attend the event, however, as there are limited spaces, admittance will be on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Attendees will be able to pay their respects by signing the book of remembrance for the first time since 2020.
The service will also be livestreamed on Solihull Council’s YouTube channel here.
