Holocaust Memorial Day UK 2020: What is this year’s theme and how is it marked?

AROUND six million Jews were brutally slaughtered during World War II as well as millions of other ethnic minorities including gypsies and the disabled.

The world – including the UK – remembers them TODAY on Holocaust Memorial Day, 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

When is Holocaust Memorial Day 2020?

Holocaust Memorial Day is held on January 27 every year, which is today.

This date, in 1945, marks the liberation of German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, by the Soviets, nearly eight months before the war officially ended.

By the time the Soviets arrived, most of the camp’s prisoners had already been sent out on a death march.

Around 7,000 prisoners were still alive when the concentration camp was liberated.

Hitler’s genocide, known as Shoah in Hebrew, wiped out two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population – including an estimated 1.5m children.

These horrific killings, which took place between 1941 and 1945, shook the world.

In the five years it was open, roughly 1.1million people were killed at Auschwitz.

Around 90 per cent of them were Jewish, while the other victims were generally Romany, Polish and Soviet people.

One in six of the Jews killed during the war died at Auschwitz, in what the Nazis called Hitler’s Final Solution.

Since 1996, January 27 has officially been remembered in Germany as the Anniversary for the Victims of National Socialism, with Italy and Poland later adopting similar memorial days.

In 2005, the United Nations (UN) voted  to officially commemorate the Holocaust.

Every year, more than a million tourists and local people make the trip to Auschwitz to remember those who died.

However, artist Shahak Shapira feels some of the selfie-loving tourists are less than respectful, and has shamed them by contrasting their smiling snaps with the horrors of the concentration camp back in the 40s.

What is Holocaust Memorial Day?

The focus of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is to remember the atrocities of the Second World War, and ensure that mankind doesn’t repeat the horrific mistakes of its past.

HMD is a UK remembrance day, which we have followed since 2001.

And this year – 2020 – is the 75th anniversary since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The event is also in tribute to those who died in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur – in similarly horrific genocides.

Each year there is a theme, with a strong focus on remembrance and learning from the past.

The (HMDT) say: “HMD is for everyone. Each year across the UK, thousands of people come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future. We know they learn more, empathise more and do more.”

This year’s theme is .

HMDT, the say: “It explores how genocidal regimes throughout history have deliberately fractured societies by marginalising certain groups, and how these tactics can be challenged by individuals standing together with their neighbours, and speaking out against oppression.

“In the years leading up to the Holocaust, Nazi policies and propaganda deliberately encouraged divisions within German society – urging “Aryan” Germans to keep themselves separate from their Jewish neighbours.

“The Holocaust, Nazi Persecution of other groups and each subsequent genocide, was enabled by ordinary citizens not standing with their targeted neighbours.

“Today there is increasing division in communities across the UK and the world.

“Now more than ever, we need to stand together with others in our communities in order to stop division and the spread of identity-based hostility in our society.

“HMD 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – this is a significant milestone and is made particularly poignant by the dwindling number of survivors who are able to share their testimony.

“It also marks the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.

How do we commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz?

There are thousands of events and exhibitions of remembrance held in the UK, during the week of Holocaust Memorial Day.

In 2016, nearly 6,000 commemorative activities took place.

Since 2005, Holocaust Memorial Day has been supported by the HMD Trust – a government funded charity.

You can follow @HMD_UK on Twitter for more information.

in London is showing a free screening of the film The Book Thief and Leeds Town Hall is hosting an exhibition entitled .

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend the Holocaust Memorial Day commemorative ceremony in Westminster.

Kate Middleton has taken photos of Holocaust survivors for an exhibition marking the 75th anniversary.