Union of Jewish Students

Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day is on the 27th January, and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration and death camp. Holocaust Memorial Day, a government-instituted programme, is designed to remember and reflect on the Nazi’s Holocaust, the humiliation and ultimate destruction of the lives of 6 million Jews and around 1 million gay people, black people, ethnic minorities, disabled people, Roma, political opponents and others.

The Union of Jewish Students supports Jewish Societies and non-Jewish institutions, particularly Student Unions, in commemorating this day. This year, UJS, in association with the Holocaust Educational Trust, are organising for a number of Student Unions to host Holocaust survivors to tell their stories and experiences at the hands of the brutal Nazi regime.

We are committed to encouraging the world to look to the mistakes made in the past that allowed such atrocities to happen in order to learn for the future… and the present. For this reason, we feel it is important to remember genocides past and present – amongst others, the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide and the current genocide in Darfur. It is also important to remember and aspire to be those people who, against all odds in a world of apathy stood up to help the victims of genocide, even to great personal risk. UJS have started an educational campaign for HMD about the Heroes of the Holocaust.

For more information, advice for your institution’s commemoration, or to receive a UJS Holocaust Memorial Day pack for your institution please contact ujs@ujs.org.uk.

Online information and resources:

Beth Shalom Holocaust Web Centre: http://www.bethshalom.com/ (the Bookstore is particularly useful and has some great educational and display posters)
Yad Vashem: http://www.yadvashem.org/
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: http://www.hmd.org.uk/
Weiner Library: http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: http://www.ushmm.org
Remember.org: http://www.remember.org/index.html
Aegis Trust: http://www.aegistrust.org/
Survivor’s Fund for Rwanda: http://www.survivors-fund.org.uk/

Some Ideas

Candle-lighting, commemoration ceremony, poster displays and display boards, survivor’s testimonies, reading the names of the victims, film showings, vigil…