York to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
The York Holocaust Memorial Day Civic Event will take place this evening.
York will host a special online event to remember both the victims of the Holocaust during the Second World War and the victims of all genocides.
York Minster will release a short video featuring the Star of David lit in candles on the floor of the cathedral’s ancient Chapter House.
Taking place tonight (27th, from 7pm), the free event is presented by the York Holocaust Memorial Day Steering Group, the University of York and City of York Council.
The York Holocaust Memorial Day Civic Event Online will include short talks by the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell and Student Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber, as well as a keynote speech by author Ariana Neumann.
Ariana will reflect on the creation of the memoir When Time Stopped, which describes her father’s extraordinary escape from Nazi-occupied Prague.
Commenting on the event, Archbishop Stephen said:
“I’m humbled and honoured to be part of this Holocaust memorial event. In remembering these horrors and the millions of Jewish people - and others besides - who were slaughtered in the death camps of a wicked and godless regime, we commit ourselves, here in this city of sanctuary and in our nation, to building a world where these horrors are never repeated.
“We do this, first of all, by the very act of remembering: by looking – painful and distressing though it is – at the human capacity for evil, and the terrible ways we divide ourselves against one another, on grounds of nation, ethnicity and religion, and particularly the way throughout history that Jewish people have been stigmatised and persecuted".