We have been working with the Ringwood Meeting House committee to provide a quiet, informative space in Ringwood for people to mark International Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday 27 January. There has been no joy in the preparations, only a quiet, reflective mood, as we assembled the posters and discussed exactly how the Meeting House would be presented.
"It's frightening that some people are still trying to deny the Holocaust happened," someone said. It's all about recognising that first hand witnesses to that horror will not be with us forever, and that the facts have to be handed down for fear we forget them. We so need to learn from the past - and indeed the present, as genocide is still going on in the world today. Somehow Darfur in Sudan has slipped from the western media radar.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is a charity that was set up by the UK Government, and which is now supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Holocaust Memorial Day was created on 27 January 2000, when representatives from governments around the world met in Stockholm to discuss Holocaust education, remembrance and research. The UK played a leading role in establishing HMD as an international day of commemoration, and 46 governments signed the Stockholm Declaration. They committed to preserving the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust. This declaration became the statement of commitment which is still used as a basis for HMD activities today.
Genocide never just happens. There is always a set of circumstances which occur or which are created to build the climate in which genocide can take place. Have a look at this:
Gregory H Stanton’s 8
stages of genocide: genocidewatch.org
HMD has taken place in the UK since 2001, with a UK national event and over 3,600 local activities taking place on or around 27 January each year.
In Ringwood people will be able to pick up leaflets on this year's theme - Don't Stand By - and sign a book of remembrance, as well as lighting a candle and sitting for as long as they wish, in the quiet of the Meeting House.
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