Residents invited to Holocaust Memorial Day service for Great Yarmouth borough

Great Yarmouth Borough Council is inviting members of the public to attend a short civic ceremony to be held at Blackfriars Jewish Cemetery, in Blackfriars Road, on Sunday, January 27, at noon.  

The annual service, which will also be attended by civic dignitaries, will include a two-minute silence. Bread will be passed to attendees as a token of remembrance, and Cllr Mary Coleman, the mayor, will lay a wreath on behalf of residents.

For those wishing to pay their respects in private, all three of the borough's Jewish burial places, including Caister Borough Cemetery, off Ormesby Road, and Kitchener Road Jewish Cemetery, will be open from dawn to dusk on the day.

Holocaust Memorial Day, promoted by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a national charity, is a day for everyone to remember the millions killed in the Holocaust, Nazi persecution, and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.

January 27 marks the day Auschwitz Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated in 1945. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 is "Torn from Home", which encourages people to reflect on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call 'home' is part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing persecution and genocide.

Cllr Coleman said: "My husband and I have visited the concentration camp sites at Auschwitz Birkenau and Bergen Belsen. Seeing the numbers, in thousands, marked on the mass graves is something we will never forget.

"As a borough, we observe Holocaust Memorial Day because it's important to pay our respects to those who suffered and also ensure that future generations remember the Holocaust as a human tragedy that must never be repeated. 

"Holocaust Memorial Day is also a chance to honour the survivors of regimes of hatred, and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of history to inform our lives today. I hope to see many people at Blackfriars Jewish Cemetery this year."