Mansfield council pays respect to genocide victims on Holocaust Memorial Day

Andy Abrahams, Mansfield mayor, joined by members of the corporate leadership team at Mansfield Council, and other members of staff, lit a candle and read a poem at Mansfield Civic Centre, the council headquarters.

Mr Abrahams said: “This year’s memorial day focuses on the part ordinary people play in acts of genocide.

“Of course, it is ordinary people who are nearly always the victims, but genocide can also only happen if it is facilitated by ordinary people, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

“This annual act of collective remembrance reminds us that being a victim of genocide could happen to anyone.

“It also allows us to question the idea of turning a blind eye, believing propaganda or obeying orders, which allow genocides occur, and it demonstrates why it is important to challenge prejudice or hate speech, here and now, rather than being complicit as silent passive observers.”

The national day is organised annually on January 27 by the government-funded charity, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

The day recognises the Second World War holocaust and other genocides that have taken place across the world since then, including in Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia, as well as Darfur in Sudan.

Mr Abrahams read a poem entitled ‘We Remember Them’ by Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer.

The closing lines read: “As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.”