Holocaust Memorial Day services planned

Residents and civic leaders will be gathering on Saturday to remember past atrocities.

Adur District Council chairman Peter Metcalfe will take part in a short moment of reflection at the Holocaust Memorial Tree in Buckingham Park, Shoreham, at 11am.

Mr Metcalfe said: “Even though it is now more than 70 years on from the horrific events of World War Two, Holocaust Memorial Day provides us all - no matter what age, faith or race - with the opportunity to reflect and remember the suffering of those whose lives were lost.

“It reminds us that such acts of genocide must never be allowed to be repeated.”

Worthing mayor Alex Harman will attend the service in Beach House Park from 10.30am, along with pupils from Lancing Prep School, Worthing Borough Council’s armed forces champion Tom Wye and mayor’s chaplain the Rev Brian Penfold.

After moments of reflection, a wreath will be laid and messages tied on the Holocaust Tree of Life in the park.

Mr Harman said: “Spoken and written words from individuals, businesses or community organisations, can have a huge impact, whether good or bad.

“I hope that this service gives everyone a chance to reflect and learn the lessons of the past while honouring those survivors of regimes which were full of hatred.”

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on January 27 each year as it marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

It is promoted by the charity Holocaust Memorial Day Trust as a day for everyone to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed in Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.