Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the millions of people who died during the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution, and in the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
It is held every year on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
- Visit the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to find out more about the commemoration.
A public commemoration event takes place each summer, also marking Refugee Week. It involves local schools, community groups and choirs performing songs, readings, poetry, dance and drama.
2025 commemoration
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 is ‘For a Better Future’.
It is 80 years since the liberation on Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Over 1 million people were killed there, most of them Jews, by the Nazis and their collaborators.
2025 also marks the 30th anniversary of the Bosnian genocide. About 8,000 men and boys were killed in one week in July 1995. It was the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II.
City councillors and council officers will reflect on this in a candle-lighting ceremony at the Guildhall. We will remember those persecuted by the Nazis, and those affected by the genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda and Dafur.
A civic event will take place at the Corn Exchange on Sunday 22 June, also marking Refugee Week.
The event will involve Cambridge schools, community groups and choirs. They will perform songs, readings, poetry, dance and drama, inspired and interspersed by new poetry by Michael Rosen. The event will also feature testimonies from refugees and genocide survivors. There will be some filmed artworks and exhibitions in the foyer.
We also support a local Holocaust education project that works in local schools. This is provided by Professor Helen Weinstein from HistoryWorks and Michael Rosen.
2024 commemoration
In 2024 we marked Holocaust Memorial Day with a small candle-lighting event in the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
The audience was addressed by the mayor, councillors and council staff, including Eva Clarke, who recounted her moving family story of surviving the Nazi Holocaust.
The audience heard about the Nazi’s Aktion T4 campaign, the importance of challenging hate speech and discrimination of people based on their identity, a poem written by a member of the English Romany community, and a reminder that 2024 was 30 years since the genocide in Rwanda.
