Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chair Laura Marks (Photo: HMDT)[Missing Credit]
Speaking afterwards to the JC, Marks said “Some people were struggling to engage, or even encouraged not to, but overall, I think the amount of people who did engage was astonishing.”
In the months prior to Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, the trust had come under attack both from critics within the Jewish community, who denounced the day for also commemorating other UK-recognised genocides, and from outside organisations, who called for people to boycott the event for not calling the war in Gaza a “genocide” – in spite of the UN’s former special advisor on the prevention of genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu rejecting the label herself.
Asked if the day had been impacted by the boycott campaign run by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Marks said: “ I don’t know what they had hoped for, but when push came to shove, the inclusive, warm caring message, which is at the heart of what we do, dominated. When I saw the King at Auschwitz and the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Prime Minister and half the cabinet and opposition parties with us at the Guildhall [for the main ceremony], I knew that actually, this is a narrative that the whole country buys into. We are there for the whole country.”
This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day marked 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. HMD ceremonies also paid tribute to victims and survivors of the Bosnian genocide, when 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered by Serb troops and paramilitaries in and around Srebrenica.
From left to right: Sabit Jakupović, Bettina Crossick, Joan Salter MBE, Olivia Marks-Woldman OBE and Tom Skitt (Photo: HMDT)[Missing Credit]
Responding to the critics who call for Holocaust Memorial Day to only mark the Holocaust, Marks said: “Our job at Holocaust Memorial Day is to focus on the six million Jewish men, women and children, who were murdered by the Nazis, the other people who were murdered by the Nazis and subsequent genocides since then, so we’ve worked very hard to ensure that core narrative is at the heart of Holocaust Memorial Day.”
She said that the impact report was evidence that “we did a good job of holding onto the core of why we’re here”, adding: “You could always do better – everyone could always do better.”
The event also saw the launch of the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 - Bridging the Generations. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust CEO Olivia Marks-Woldman said it would enable participants to explore the connections between Holocaust survivors and survivors of other genocides and their own descendants, as well as future generations who were not blood relations “but may be the next generation to hear their testimonies”.
“We will continue to honour the survivors and ensure that their experience will live on, shaping a future rooted un empathy, in education and in resilience,” she said.
Holocaust Memorial Trust CEO Olivia Marks-Woldman (Photo: HMDT)[Missing Credit]
Marks-Woldman said that the theme would also allow people to commemorate those who were murdered “who left no generations to follow them to continue their legacy” and “encourage participants to be a memorial generation for them”.
Participants would also explore the challenges that survivors faced when they arrived in the UK after displacement, she added, while also celebrating the contributions that they had made to UK society, “which continue to enrich and shape our communities today”.
The launch event included a panel discussion led by Marks-Woldman with Holocaust survivor Joan Salter, Bosnian genocide survivor Sabit Jakupović and Bettina Crossick, head of third sector partnerships at His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, who talked about the impact of prison HMD events on inmates.
A focal point of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day was 80 Candles for 80 Years, and Tom Skitt from Haringey Libraries talked about the candle holder he had created to honour the memory of survivor and sculptor Naomi Blake, who had lived in the area. The candle holder will be displayed at different libraries in the borough.
