Millions of people who lost their lives in the Holocaust during the Second World War and in genocides around the world have been remembered with a special memorial event at Caldicot Hub. The event hosted by Friends of Caldicot Library was held on Thursday 26th of January, ahead of the annual commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday 27th of January.
Members of the public, Monmouthshire County Council cabinet members and colleagues were all in attendance to hear the stories of survivors, listen to readings and to light candles in the victims’ memory.
This year the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is ‘Ordinary People’. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses – and ordinary people were victims. Over six million Jews were murdered during the Nazi-led Holocaust, with many others losing their lives in genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
This commemoration event has taken place for a number of years and continued during the COVID-19 pandemic with the event taking place via online livestream.
Attending the event, Cabinet Member for Equalities and Engagement, Cllr. Catherine Fookes said: “It was a great honour to speak at the Holocaust Memorial event in Caldicot, to hear stories and to light a candle in honour of the fallen. The Holocaust, when over six million Jews were murdered, and subsequent genocides around the world have seen the most significant loss of life in our history. We must not forget the victims of these atrocious acts and we must all actively challenge prejudice, stand up to hatred and speak out against persecution wherever we see it.”
