Today, on Holocaust Memorial Day, we pause to remember the millions of lives destroyed by the Nazi regime. Yesterday at Beamish Museum, I listened to Brenda Dinsdale from the Newcastle Reform Synagogue speak about the importance of remembrance. She reminded us that the generation of survivors is now almost gone, and the responsibility to carry their stories forward rests with us.
The Holocaust was not random or chaotic. It was deliberate, planned, and industrial in its methods. Six million Jewish people were murdered. Over one million Roma and Sinti people were killed. Hundreds of thousands of gay people, disabled people, political opponents, and other minorities were persecuted and murdered — bringing the total number of victims to around twelve million.
They were killed in gas chambers built for efficiency, in mass shootings in forests and fields, in ghettos starved of food and medicine, and in camps designed to erase entire peoples.
As we remember them, we must also confront the present. Antisemitism is rising. Racism is resurfacing. Homophobia and other forms of hatred are gaining confidence. These are not small concerns; they are warnings.
Our duty is to challenge hatred wherever it appears, to defend the dignity of every human being, and to ensure that “Never Again” is not a phrase we repeat, but a promise we uphold.
