THIS week Trudy Harrison MP signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment. 

In doing so she has pledged her commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust as well as paying tribute to the extraordinary Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people today.

Holocaust Memorial Day falls on January 27 every year, the anniversary of the liberation of the infamous former Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in 1945.

Across the UK – and the world – people came together to remember the horrors of the past.

In the lead-up to and on Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of commemorative events were arranged by an array of organisations across the country, remembering all the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. The theme for this year’s commemorations was ‘Fragility of Freedom’.

After signing the Book of Commitment, Trudy Harrison MP commented: “Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity for people from Copeland to reflect on the darkest times of European history.

"Today, I pledge to remember the six million Jewish men, women, and children who were murdered in the Holocaust and speak out against all forms of antisemitism, which in recent months has risen exponentially and which needs to be tackled head-on.”

Karen Pollock CBE, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: "On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember the six million Jewish men, women, and children who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, and we honour those who survived.

"When the concentration camps of Europe were liberated, the reality of the Nazi attempt to eradicate world Jewry became clear.

"In newspapers, cinema and radio broadcasts the atrocities were laid bare. The phrase ‘Never Again’ was coined, reflecting the hope that the Holocaust would forever represent the ultimate result of anti-Jewish hatred; a warning signal for generations to come of where unchecked antisemitism could lead.

"This Holocaust Memorial Day, as antisemitism once again sweeps across the globe, it is more important than ever to remember the six million Jewish victims and remind ourselves that anti-Jewish racism did not begin nor end with the Holocaust."