Huw marked Holocaust Memorial Day in Parliament by signing the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment and attending Holocaust Memorial Day’s remembrance service.
This year marks 77 years since the liberation of the concentration of Europe and the end of the Second World War. Holocaust Memorial Day falls on 27 January each year to mark the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and its 7,000 brave survivors. 1.1 million people, equalling 85% of those sent to Auschwitz, were murdered in the camp between May 1940 and January 1945.
In November 2016, Mr Merriman joined 200 students from the South East of England on the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz trip and went on to sponsor that year’s Holocaust Memorial Day Debate in Parliament.
Commenting, Mr Merriman said:
“As I signed the Book of Commitment and listened to the memorial service, I thought about the survivors that I have had the absolute privilege of meeting. These extraordinary people survived the most unimaginable evil horrors that mankind delivered on itself when hatred, prejudice and violence was left unchecked.
“As the number of Holocaust survivors, many of whom have courageously dedicated their lives to ensure that their experiences would never be repeated, inevitably decreases, it is ever more important that we mark this important day.
“This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day is especially significant given the rise in a minority of those opposed to COVID-19 restrictions or vaccinations comparing them to the treatment of the victims of the Holocaust. The work of the Holocaust Educational Trust is vital in combatting this harmful narrative, but we all have a role in calling it out whenever this behaviour rears its ugly head.”
Holocaust Memorial Day is also a time to reflect on and commemorate the genocides that have taken place since the Second World War, such as in Rwanda, Darfur and Bosnia.
