Today, January 27th, marks the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day.

The theme for the commemoration this year is Stand Together. It explores how genocidal regimes throughout history have deliberately fractured societies by marginalising certain groups, and how these tactics can be challenged by individuals standing together with their neighbours, and speaking out against oppression.

Today there is increasing division in communities across the UK and the world. Now more than ever, we need to stand together with others in our communities in order to stop division and the spread of identity-based hostility in our society.

Survivors Fund (SURF) has been involved in marking the commemoration in a variety of ways through the years. This year, SURF’s UK Coordinator, David Russell, will be speaking at the Holocaust Memorial 2020 event at the Union Chapel in London on Wednesday 29th January. The event is free to attend, and you can register for a ticket here.

The Holocaust ended 75 years ago, and the world then said “never again’. Less than 40 years later, one million Tutsis and a number of moderate Hutus were killed in one hundred days during the Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda. That is why we must remember.

You can show your support by using the hashtag #StandTogether when sharing on Twitter in order for your tweet to appear on the Holocaust Memorial Day Memorial Wall.

Thank you.