Worcester's Guildhall to light up for Holocaust Memorial Day
The historic building will turn purple over the next few days
Today marks International Holocaust Memorial Day with people across the region coming together to remember the past through various events.
The theme for this year is 'Fragility of Freedom', which was created from an extract from Anne Frank's diary in 1940 saying the freedom of Jewish people was being restricted during the Second World War.
Worcester's Guildhall will be lit up purple prior to hosting their service on Monday, while Redditch Council are holding their event throughout this morning.
Mayor of Worcester Louis Stephen believes it's important that the country and region remembers it's history so that similar mistakes aren't made in the future.
He said: "I think every single secondary school in Worcester is going to be coming along to take part, and it's fantastic that young people are wanting to get involved.
"It's really important that we remember the things that have happened in the past so that we don't do them again.
"If we don't remember and we forget what happened, then we are at risk of repeating those horrible things, and that's something which we definitely don't want to ever see happen."
Worcester Council are hosting the event alongside Worcestershire Interfaith Forum, who represent the interests of faith communities across the county.
A keynote speaker Mr Michael Bibring, who is a second-generation Holocaust survivor, will also be present to tell his story.
On why the theme itself is so important, Mayor Stephen said: "The fragility of freedom is basically saying that it's very easy to think that everything is going to stay the same, that we've got our culture and our way of life and our values.
"That freedom can be very fragile however, and it's about making sure that we don't take all of our freedoms and our values for granted.
"We've seen what has happened in Europe, and it's really it's quite close to home, so what we need to do is make sure that we hold on to that freedom really and treat it carefully."
Monday's service will get underway at 10:30am.