Sandwell Council will be marking Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January with a special service to be held at 11am in the Memorial Gardens at Highfields House.

The service is open to everyone and attendees are requested to arrive by 10:45am.

Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution and in the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 is Ordinary People and focuses on the involvement of ordinary people in all aspects of genocides - as perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses, and victims. His Worship, the Mayor of Sandwell, Councillor Richard Jones, said:

“Today we remember the millions of people who were murdered by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust, and those who were killed in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

“This year’s theme is Ordinary People, and in the words of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, ‘we are all ordinary people today who can be extraordinary in our actions’.

“So, as we mark this important day, we choose to challenge prejudice and hatred, and to speak out against identity-based persecution in our communities and the world at large.”