The BBC is to broadcast a special series of programmes to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz next year, the corporation has announced.
The programmes, which will be broadcast around Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, will range from interviews with survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp to a new drama about the televising of the Adolf Eichmann trial in 1961, starring Martin Freeman and Anthony LaPaglia.
Danny Cohen, the BBC’s director of television, said: “The liberation of the camps is a very significant anniversary which the BBC will mark with a range of thought-provoking programmes.
“Alongside new documentaries and drama - the BBC will re-show Shoah in full and provide coverage of the Holocaust Memorial Event.”
The corporation will broadcast a Holocaust Memorial Day event organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust on January 27.
At the event, which coincides with the liberation of the camp, Holocaust survivors will gather in central London and share their stories to keep the victims’ “memory alive”. A separate ceremony will also be held at the Nazi camp in Poland.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said: “We are delighted that the BBC will be ensuring that Holocaust Memorial Day is marked by the widest possible audience. On January 27 we honour the survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides and challenge ourselves to learn important lessons from their experiences in order to create a safer, better future.”
