A Holocaust Memorial Day event in Pembroke will mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the place of murder of around 1 million people – the vast majority of these were Jews.

Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity for everyone, regardless of background, life experiences, or beliefs, to come together and vow ‘Never Again!’ for the systematic, targeted genocidal murder of anyone, especially the Jewish people. Antisemitic behaviour (anti-Jewish behaviour) has increased dramatically in recent years, and there have been calls for the destruction of the Jewish people on the streets of large cities across the world.

“Eighty years following the Holocaust, there is a need for us to play our part in remembrance,” says Rev’d Joel Barder. “This year’s theme, given by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is ‘For a better future’ and we can help build a future that is against hatred, bigotry and oppression.

“One of these ways is to meet together and mark this most important of days.”

In Westgate Evangelical Chapel, Pembroke at 7pm on Monday, January 27, Joel will be leading a Service of Commemoration. Everyone is invited to go along to learn together, pray together, and remember together the victims of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution, and genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Candles will be lit in memory, and inspiring stories told through words, images and videos.

The prayer and hope behind this commemoration is that 80 years on, we will be educating, and revealing to, the next generation, the horrors of the 20th Century, so that they may live ‘for a better future.’ If we long to see our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have a better experience of living in the world, then aiding them learning and teaching about the horrors of the events of the Holocaust, and other genocides, is of deep significance.

“Please consider coming and marking this hugely significant day,” Joel adds.

“My family were Jewish, and they came over to the UK from Krakow, Poland, in the mid-19th Century. Had they been there less than 80 years later, they would all have almost certainly been murdered in camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau. Well over 90 per cent of Krakow’s Jewish population was murdered during the Holocaust.

“As I bring up my daughters, I long for them, and for your children and family members, to understand the horrors of yesterday, in order to build a better tomorrow. Join me – 7pm at the Westgate Evangelical Chapel, Pembroke on Monday, January 27.”