Wales will today be urged never to forget those who died in the Holocaust as the world marks the 70th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Survivor Mady Gerrard will be the main speaker at Wales’ national commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day in Cardiff.
The global commemoration honours the survivors and remembers those who have lost their lives in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. A ceremony will be held at Cardiff City Hall at 11am, where Holocaust survivors living in Wales will pass a candle to pupils from Newbridge School in Caerphilly, lit from a special 70th anniversary candle created by artist Sir Anish Kapoor.
Mady Gerrard is a Holocaust survivor of the Auschwitz and Belsen camps who came to Wales from Hungary 58 years ago. She will be dedicating her talk to Lieutenant John Randall who liberated her as a young prisoner in Belsen.
First Minister Carwyn Jones, who is attending the event, said: “We must never forget those who died as a result of Nazi persecution and other genocides across the world. Holocaust Memorial Day gives us the opportunity to remember those who faced the most horrendous persecution. It is our duty to keep the memory of their courageous stories alive so we can ensure that abhorrent acts are never repeated.”
Presiding Officer Dame Rosemary Butler, who will also be attending the event, said: “It is essential that we should take time to remember the dreadful events that took place during the middle part of the last century. The atrocities committed by the Nazis remind us all of humanity’s capacity to heap unspeakable pain and suffering upon our fellow human beings. In order to stop future genocides we must ensure that we remember those who perished in the camps of Germany and Eastern Europe.”
