Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 to be held at Astley Park War Memorial

The special service will return this Saturday (January 21) at the War Memorial in Astley Park from 10.45am. Everyone is invited to attend the annual service organised by Chorley Council and Kinga Grzeczynska, Director of Chorley Holocaust Memorial Day. It will be led by Rev Dr Francis Marsden, lasting around 45 minutes.

What is Holocaust Memorial Day?

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the global Jewish population, along with countless members of other minorities between 1933 and 1945 by Nazi Germany. January 27 was chosen to commemorate the date when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945.

What is this year's theme for the remembrance service?

Each year across the UK, thousands of people come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future. This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is ‘Ordinary People’ which highlights the ordinary people who let genocide – a crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, happen, the ordinary people who actively perpetrated genocide, and the ordinary people who were persecuted. It prompts us to consider how ordinary people, such as us, can play a bigger part than we might imagine in challenging prejudice today, and on Holocaust Memorial Day 2023.

What did Deputy Leader for Chorley Council Peter Wilson say about the service?

“We hold this service annually on Holocaust Memorial Day to remember all the victims of the Holocaust, genocide and other atrocities across the world. This service is always well supported, and we hope this will be the same this year”.

“I encourage everyone to join us at the service on Saturday or take a few moments to remember and learn from the past which can help us to create a safer and united future together.”

If you would like to find out some more information about Holocaust Memorial Day, you can visit HERE.