On 27 January 2012, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, the world will mark Holocaust Memorial Day. As a Holocaust survivor and a Trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust I will be urging everyone to take note of this year’s theme and ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’.
The Holocaust rescuers I wrote about in ‘The Other Schindlers‘ chose to use their voices and actions to save the lives of others. In my own way, I use my voice and the story of my own family every time I give a speech or interview. As a survivor I feel an enormous responsibility to speak for those whose lives were taken from them in horrendous circumstances. But we each have a responsibility to speak up for those who have no voice or have had their right to speak taken away.
Hundreds of local events take place every year to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and I ask all of my UK based website visitors to attend their closest event so that we can join together to remember the past in order to create a safer, better future. If nothing is happening in your town, why not organise an event? The HMDT website can give you help and support – click www.hmd.org.uk.
