What can local authorities do to mark Holocaust Memorial Day? Dr Toni Griffiths, senior outreach officer at the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, provides some guidance.

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is the international day on 27 January to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of people killed under Nazi persecution of other groups and in more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. It is an occasion for everyone to come together to learn, remember and reflect.

In 2023, three-quarters of local authorities marked HMD and with your help, that number can increase for 2024. The day is fast approaching, but the opportunity to share the message of HMD is one for all year round. Further, with activities and events taking place across the country until the end of February, there is still time for your council to get involved and be counted alongside the thousands of organisations and individuals across the UK who are marking HMD this year.

On HMD we seek to learn from genocide to build a better future, because genocide does not just happen – it is always the result of a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism, and hatred are not checked and prevented.

Each year the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) selects a theme for HMD and this year it is Fragility of Freedom. In every genocide that has taken place, those who are targeted have had their freedom restricted and removed before many of them are murdered. This is often a subtle, slow process. 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 and in which perpetrator regimes can remove the freedoms of those they are targeting. Despite this, in every genocide there are those who risk their own freedom to help others, to preserve others’ freedom or to stand up to the regime.

HMD 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. 49 years after the Holocaust ended, 19 years after the genocide in Cambodia, the world stood by as Hutu extremists shattered the fragile freedom in Rwanda, following decades of tension and violence, culminating in the murder of over one million Tutsis in just one hundred days.

Conflict is still ongoing in the Darfur region of Sudan. Survivors of the genocide, now safe in the UK, are terrified for the safety of their family members still in Darfur, and scared to speak out publicly in the UK lest their family members’ lives are threatened.

As the conflict in Israel and Gaza continues, the division and hostility within societies both globally and here in the UK affects us all. Across the UK we are experiencing increasing, widespread, and appalling antisemitism – anti-Jewish hatred. We are also recording a shocking and deeply concerning rise in anti-Muslim hatred.

On HMD 2024, we can all reflect on how freedom is fragile and vulnerable to abuse. As we come together in communities around the UK, let’s pledge not to take our freedoms for granted, and consider what we can do to strengthen freedoms around the world.

HMD activities take place in councils, prisons, schools, libraries, workplaces, faith centres and many other places from December to February. Councils take part every year in a variety of ways both internally and externally, online and in person. Activities range from civic ceremonies involving local MPs, the emergency services and other key members of the community, to flag lowering and social media posts, from reading the statement of commitment at a council meeting to collaborative art projects with community groups, libraries and the arts. Every council is also encouraged to join the Light the Darkness National Moment.

Visit the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website to access free resources, including updated guidance for marking HMD 2024, the Getting Involved Guide for local authorities, and to download free printable About HMD booklets and flyers.

Remember to add your HMD activity to our interactive map to become part of the national picture of how the UK marks HMD 2024; every activity counts.

You are warmly invited to register for the HMD 2024 UK Ceremony: Curated Moments which will take place on 27 January at 7.30 pm.

If you have any questions or would like to arrange an online meeting, please contact Dr Toni Griffiths, Senior Outreach Officer at the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust at toni.griffiths@hmd.org.uk