Holocaust Memorial Day 2021

Lewisham Council hosted an online service to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday 27 January. The theme for this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day was ‘be the light in the darkness’.

The online service brought Lewisham residents together to remember the millions of lives that were lost during the Holocaust, and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Lewisham hosts an event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day every year, and children from local primary and secondary schools who take part in the programme of Holocaust education demonstrate their learning through creative performances and readings. Many of these performances feature in the online service.

‘Be the light in the darkness’ is a call to all of us to identify different kinds of darkness – persecution, misinformation, denial of justice – and different ways of being the light and resisting that darkness. Across the UK, thousands of people come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future.

The online Holocaust Memorial Day service is available to watch on the I am Lewisham website.

Damien Egan, Mayor of Lewisham and Chair of the Lewisham Holocaust Memorial Committee said:

“Lewisham will always stand up against hatred and intolerance in all its forms. The theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, “be light in the darkness”, is more important than ever in today’s society and one that we must all unite behind.

“We were not able to come together in person this year to mark Holocaust Memorial Day but I am delighted how everyone has worked to put together this online service. I would like to thank everyone involved, particularly Mark Curtis and Jason Webb from Small Nose Productions, and my fellow Holocaust Memorial Day Committee members; Reverend David Rome, Iman Shakeel Begg, Reverend Charles Pickstone, Joan Goldberg, Gerald Rose and Liane Segal.”