th 27 January 2021 Holocaust Memorial Day Be the light in the darkness We will continue to do our bit for as long as we can, secure in the knowledge that others will continue to light a candle long after us. - Gena Turgel MBE, survivor of the Holocaust (1923-2018) This resource was compiled by Mirela Temo (EMA/NQT Adviser, MA History/Geography) Email:
[email protected] 2 th 27 January – Holocaust Memorial Day Why a Holocaust Memorial Day 27 January is the Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). In this international day we remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. HMD offers a chance to reflect on our past, and a call to work for a better future. Our world often feels fragile and vulnerable and we cannot be complacent. Prejudice, identity based hostility, and the language of hatred must be challenged by us all. Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2021 is Be the light in the darkness. It encour- ages everyone to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to, but also the ways individuals and communities resisted that darkness to ‘be the light’ before, during and after genocide. Be the light in the darkness is an affirmation and a call to action for everyone marking HMD. This theme asks us to consider different kinds of ‘darkness’, for example, identity-based per- secution, misinformation, denial of justice; and different ways of ‘being the light’, for exam- ple, resistance, acts of solidarity, rescue and illuminating mistruths.