Events held across Suffolk to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
Multiple events are being held throughout the county
Last updated 27th Jan 2023
People across Suffolk are today remembering the millions who were murdered in the Holocaust and the genocides which followed.
Multiple events are taking place, including the St Edmundsbury Cathedral memorial service.
Robin Herman's the chair of the Ipswich Faith and Community Forum.
He's organised two events in the county and explains why it's so important to mark the occasion:
"It's both a chance for people who suffered, who are obviously very elderly people now, to remember, and a chance for the children and grandchildren of the people who suffered directly in the Holocaust to learn what happened."
Reflecting on the past and how we have progressed
Robin told us the day's an opportunity for people not just to remember the past but to acknowledge what is happening in the world now:
"It's a chance for those people and their families to reflect, but it's also a reminder - quite an important one - that this is not a historical moment in the past.
"There are still people around the world, governments around the world attempting to commit genocide, persecuting different groups, trying to drive them out of existence and so, as the old adage goes, not learning from history and ending up repeating it.
"It's not only thinking about what went on in the 1940s. It's thinking about what's going on today in other parts of the world."
"It didn't end with the war"
"Obviously the Jewish community bore the chief brunt of Hitler's insanity, but there were plenty of other communities that also felt his seemingly bottomless resentment, rage and contempt.
"Some of those communities, including the Jewish community, are still the target of other living politicians and living religious leaders, so it's not as if that sort of hatred of the Jews, of disabled people, of gay people ended when the Second World War ended, when the camps closed.
"It still exists. You only have to look at somewhere like Chechnya to see quite horrendous activities going on there.
"We are incredibly lucky in Britain that we've gone such a long time without any wars on our shores...
"So we've got several generations worth of people whose closest encounter with warfare is watching the news or seeing a film and we're fantastically lucky that that's true for them, but that can breed a sense of complacency.
"Because it's peaceful today, we assume it's going to be peaceful tomorrow, the next decade, next century, and as many people around the world are finding out, you can never guarantee peace."
The Holocaust still affects people
Robin explained how the Holocaust has had a generational impact:
"It haunts people, it doesn't go away and that kind of anxiety can become intergenerational.
"Even if you personally have never lived through something like that, you could know from your parents, your grandparents, aunts and uncles what they went through.
"Then, at the back of your mind is always that concern: Well, what if?"