03/01/2021
Now is the time to plan for Holocaust Memorial Day, which is scheduled to take place on 27th January. In 2021, this falls on a Wednesday. The date marks the anniversary in 1945 of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, perhaps the most deadly and most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps operated by the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler between 1933 and 1945, during which time the fascist governments in Europe plunged the world into a brutal war that cost upwards of fifty million lives. At the end of it, various institutions were created to try and avoid such similar catastrophes from happening again. But the intolerance and hatred of the fascistic regimes has not died quietly. It pops up from time to time, for example under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1975 and in the Rwandan Genocide of 2004. The government of the UK formalized Holocaust Memorial Day in 2002 and it is commemorated by faith groups, governmental departments and schools across the land. For LGBTQ people, it is particularly pertinent that the Day is observed, given that every genocidal and fascistic regime in the world, from the Serbian paramilitaties to General Pinochet in Chile, have worshipped heterosexuality and masculinity and ruthlessly suppressed gay and gender nonconformists. Available on Holocause Memorial Day’s official UK website are downloadable resources, lesson plans for schools, posters and an order form for a free pin badge to grace your lapel. Visit hmd.org.uk for more information and perhaps lobby your trade union, workplace or school to mark this important event.
