The Speaker of the House of Commons led a special
candle-lighting ceremony in Parliament today [23
January] to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
MPs and staff gathered to hear moving testimonies from
genocide survivors, who reflected on this year’s theme of the
‘fragility of freedom’.
The international date remembers the six million Jews murdered
under Nazi persecution, and the victims of
subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and
Darfur.
said it ‘was important for
the parliamentary community to take a moment to remember all
those whose lives that have been lost – and the people
who mourn them.
‘In my opinion, there is nothing more powerful than hearing
directly from those who have survived these terrible atrocities,’
he said.
‘It is why our Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony is so
important – offering us the privilege of hearing from those
who were there: that we must call out hatred wherever it exists,
to promote peace wherever we can.’
After the ceremony, white roses were laid to remember each
genocide.
ends
NOTES TO EDITORS:
-
This is the fourth time Holocaust Memorial Day has been
marked in this way in the House of Commons - a commemoration
initiated by Mr Speaker
-
The ceremony began at 0930 on 23 January 2022 in
Portcullis House with an introduction by Sir Lindsay
