Council marks Holocaust Memorial Day

Today Three Rivers District Council is marking Holocaust Memorial Day - the international day of remembrance which takes place every year on 27 January - to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides.

To mark the occasion a flag-raising ceremony was held at Three Rivers House. Cllr Keith Martin, Chair of Three Rivers District Council, and Cllr Sarah Nelmes, Leader of Three Rivers District Council, were joined by Cllr Debbie Morris, Vice-Chair of Three Rivers District Council, Cllr Stephen Cox, Labour Group Leader, and Cllr Paula Hiscocks, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group.

Cllr Martin said: “Today we remember the millions of people systematically murdered by a vile regime. The victims of the Nazis were not just those so cruelly slaughtered, but their surviving family members. The sheer magnitude of the holocaust makes it difficult to comprehend. Yet, acts of genocide have been committed since then and in different parts of the world.

“We should remember these words from Primo Levy. ‘Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.’

“Humanity must stand up to the monsters.”

Cllr Nelmes said: “Today we remember the suffering and the death of Jews and of all those others who were persecuted in World War II. We try to recapture and grasp the horror of millions sent to gas chambers and crematoria through the harrowing images that have emerged since 1945 and have haunted humanity in the decades that followed.

“The past holds hope if we learn its lessons - never shall it be forgotten that wherever it is taking place in the world, the persecution of people because of their faith, race, or on any other grounds is wrong and its full ugliness must be recognised and must be defeated forever.”

You can watch Cllr Keith Martin’s tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides which have taken place since the Second World War here:

Council spokesperson

Cllr Sarah Nelmes  – Leader of Three Rivers District Council

Group spokespeople

Cllr Alex Hayward – Leader of the Conservative Group

Cllr Stephen Cox – Leader of the Labour Group

Cllr Alex Michaels – Independent Councillors Group Joint Leader