Today is national Holocaust Memorial Day. People are urged to be in the present, for nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day this year is “One Day”. This has deliberately been left open to interpretation. A quote from Holocaust survivor Iby Knill: “You didn’t think about yesterday, and tomorrow may not happen, it was only today that you had to cope with and you got through it as best you could.”
Stirling Provost, Christine Simpson said: “Consider where we are today, 27 January 2022, and how far we’ve come in moving past this shameful chapter in human history; but also how far we have still to go as the pain of genocide is still felt in Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda.”
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is showcasing pictures the public have taken that they feel interpret the “One Day” theme at 6.45pm. Their ceremony will follow this online between 7-8pm, to get involved head to their website here.
The Holocaust Memorial Trust Instagram account asks people to light a candle in their window at 8pm, with the hashtag #lightthedarkness. This is not in view of the Holocaust alone but also numerous other atrocities that have taken place and those that continue to do so.
Simpson said: “I’d like to ask Stirling residents this year to consider another day as part of this Holocaust Memorial Day”.
Simpson urged residents to “all do our bit to reach this day in our own communities by challenging identity based bigotry whenever we encounter it, and I have hope that we will reach this day, one day at a time.”.
For more information on the history of the Holocaust and other acts of genocide or simply the evening planned look here.
Feature image credit: amateurphotographer.co.uk
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