"Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th Jan will give an opportunity for our towns to reflect" say Medway Liberal Democrats

Friday 27th January 2023 marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, every year on that day Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) takes place, a day that will give an opportunity for people from our towns and across the country to reflect on the tragic events of the Holocaust and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2023 is 'Ordinary People' - 'Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Ordinary people turn a blind eye, believe propaganda, join murderous regimes. And those who are persecuted, oppressed and murdered in genocide aren't persecuted because of crimes they've committed - they are persecuted simply because they are ordinary people who belong to a particular group (eg, Roma, Jewish community, Tutsi).

Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and ordinary people were victims.' - Quote from Holocaust Memorial Day website - https://www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/this-years-theme/

Alan Wells, spokesperson for Medway Liberal Democrats said, " Even at local level, we have witnessed recently attacks aimed at different faiths around our towns with acts of vandalism at the Chatham Memorial Synagogue. Like many residents, I was appalled at the attacks on the Synagogue. Medway Liberal Democrats stand in solidarity against these acts of racism, which we will not tolerate. Friday 27th January will give local people the chance to reflect, not only the past but the present also.

As the Holocaust moves from living history, to just history, it becomes ever more important that we take the time to remember the victims and also pay tribute to the survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people today.

Three years ago, Medway Liberal Democrats welcomed the Medway Council's adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of Anti-Semitism. The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, is as follows: 'Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

We recognise the above definition as an invaluable tool for public bodies to understand how anti-Semitism manifests itself in the 21st century. Liberal Democrats everywhere are committed in tackling the appalling rise in hate crimes in all its forms and will continue to fight against prejudice and discrimination, to ensure equality and protection for people of all backgrounds and beliefs."

ENDS

ADDITIONAL NOTES & LINKS FOR EDITORS:
https://www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/this-years-theme/

Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Ordinary people turn a blind eye, believe propaganda, join murderous regimes. And those who are persecuted, oppressed and murdered in genocide aren't persecuted because of crimes they've committed - they are persecuted simply because they are ordinary people who belong to a particular group (eg, Roma, Jewish community, Tutsi).

Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and ordinary people were victims.

In every genocide, those targeted faced limited choices - 'choiceless choices' (Lawrence Langer) but in every genocide the perpetrators have choices, ordinary people have choices.

Sometimes, these choices were limited too, sometimes they had to make life-threatening decisions. And ordinary people were the ones who made brave decisions to rescue, to hide or stand up. But ordinary people also made decisions to ignore what was going on around them, to be bystanders, to allow the genocide to continue.

There are also extraordinary people in every genocide, remarkable and unusual people, who went to extreme lengths to help, to rescue, to save, and in every genocide there were extraordinary people, who went to extreme depths to cause harm, to persecute, to murder.


Our theme this year, though, highlights the ordinary people who let genocide happen, the ordinary people who actively perpetrated genocide, and the ordinary people who were persecuted.

Our theme will also prompt us to consider how ordinary people, such as ourselves, can perhaps play a bigger part than we might imagine in challenging prejudice today.

In order to explore the theme of Ordinary people, we will look at some specific categories (perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers). It is important to note that people do not always fall neatly into one of these categories, and that within categories, within sectors, jobs and responsibilities there were a range of responses to what was going on around them, as the example of railway workers in the Holocaust shows:

Example: Ordinary People - Railway workers during the Holocaust

And as a five year old, I could stand at the edge of the clearing where the trains were being loaded. People like sardines in those wooden trucks.

And the people loading them in - they were railway men, they didn't look terribly different from the railway men who check my tickets these days - they looked like ordinary people.Dr Martin Stern MBE, Holocaust survivor

Find out more from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
https://www.hmd.org.uk/take-part-in-holocaust-memorial-day/ukhmd/