About the event
Holocaust Memorial Day is an international day of remembrance for victims of the Holocaust and other genocides. The day honours the survivors and remembers those who have lost their lives. It is held on January 27 every year, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
In recent years, Cardiff Council and Welsh Government have jointly hosted the Wales National Ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day Wales at City Hall.
Due to the national Coronavirus restrictions, the City Hall event will not be taking place this year, so a recorded commemoration is being made available online to offer an opportunity for participation at home.
Join in from home
The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 is ‘Be the light in the darkness’, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust ask for you to consider different kinds of ‘darkness’, for example:
- identity-based persecution,
- misinformation,
- denial of justice
and different ways of ‘being the light’, for example:
-
resistance,
-
acts of solidarity,
-
rescue, and
-
illuminating mistruths.
The Trust invites members of the public to light a candle in their windows at 8pm on Wednesday, January 27, creating a national moment to light the darkness.
Contributors to the Commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day Wales
-
Welcome Message (First Minister and Leader of Cardiff Council)
-
A message from Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (Olivia Marks-Woldman Chief Executive, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust)
-
Statement of Commitment (The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Councillor Rod McKerlich)
-
Traditional Hebrew Memorial Prayer, El Male Rachamim (Rabbi Rose, Cardiff United Synagogue)
-
Remembering the Holocaust (Janine Webber BEM, Holocaust Survivor)
-
Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 Poem (The Rt. Hon. Mark Drakeford AM, First Minister of Wales)
-
Isiah 2, v2 – 5, read in the Welsh language (Leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas)
-
Remembering Srebrenica (Safet Vukalic BEM)
-
Reflections (including: The Reverend Canon Stewart Lisk, Honorary Chaplain to Cardiff Council; Michael Rye, President of the Consular Association in Wales; Rhia Stankovic, representing the Lord Mayor's Charity, Alzheimer's Society Cymru; Maurice Simove, Chair of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, Cardiff and South Wales; Aliya Mohammed, Chief Executive Officer Race Equality First ; Rev Canon Aled Edwards OBE, Director, Displaced People in Action; Megan John, Disability Equality and Inclusions Officer Disability Wales
-
Music including Shalom, arranged by Guy Harbottle, performed by Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Youth Choir
-
Pledge (written by Gwyneth Lewis, National Poet of Wales 2005/6)
-
The Blessing (The Reverend Canon Stewart Lisk; Stanley Soffa, Cardiff Reform Synagogue; The Most Reverend John Davies, Archbishop of Wales)
Other events
The UK Commemorative Ceremony for National Holocaust Memorial Day will take place at 7pm on January 27, 2021. To register to watch the ceremony, visit the
Holocaust memorial day website.External link opens in a new window