Holocaust Memorial Day - Previous Events
Previous Events
Public Events 2025
Parliament Buildings: Light the Darkness
To mark HMD 2025, Stormont and many other buildings across the UK lit up in purple to commemorate HMD “Light the Darkness” on 27 January.
Ards and North Down Borough Council Events
Members of the District Councils, Camps and Interventions (DCI) Branch visited events organised by Ards and North Down Borough Council to commemorate HMD 2025.
Holocaust Library Exhibition:
The Holocaust library exhibition was held on Tuesday 21 January at Bangor Carnegie Library. The exhibition showcased the work of local schools and community groups to commemorate the Holocaust and other genocides. The Executive Office’s Donna Hull had the opportunity to see some of the powerful artwork produced by the young people. She said: “It was a privilege to be invited to see the work produced by the young people. It was clear that they had done a lot of research and reflection into what life was like for the victims of the Holocaust and the events that lead to these atrocities occurring.”
The exhibition ran from Monday 20 January until Friday 31 January 2025.
Lu Lawrence Address:
Lu Lawrence, the daughter of Holocaust survivor Zigi Shipper, gave a talk in Bangor Grammar school on 22 January to pupils from a number of schools in the Ards and North Down (AND) Borough Council area.
Young people had the privilege of hearing Lu, a Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor, share her father’s remarkable story. She recounted his harrowing journey through several different concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and the bravery of her father and his friends during a Death March.
Photograph (from left to right): Donna Mackey – AND Council, Paul Douglas – TEO, Lu Lawrence, Shirley Lennon – HMDT, and Anna Dunn – AND Council
Paul Douglas from the District Council Good Relations Programme had the opportunity to listen to Lu speak. He said: “It was an honour to be here for this event and to meet Lu. Zigi’s story is as important today as it’s ever been. The work that he did – and his family continue to do – should serve as an inspiration to us all.”
Photograph: Lu Lawrence pictured lighting the candle at the regional HMD 2025 commemoration in Belfast City Hall.
Bangor Castle Commemorative Event:
A commemorative event was held at Bangor Castle on Wednesday 22 January, with guest speaker Charles Warmington, a second generation survivor of the Holocaust.
Julie McCormack from the District Council Good Relations Programme attended the commemoration event and said, “It was a very moving story from a second generation survivor whose mother arrived here on one of the kinder trains.” During the commemorative event children from Millisle Primary School recited poems. Julie reflected on how it was a “very thought provoking evening.”
Holocaust Memorial Day 2024
Pictured (L-R) marking HMD 2024 regional commemoration event at Belfast City Hall are: Rabbi David Kale MBE, Dr. Alfred Garwood, survivor of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and keynote speaker at the commemoration, Councillor Ryan Murphy, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Pelagie Buchanan, a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and Gareth Johnston, The Executive Office’s Deputy Secretary of Good Relations and Inclusion.
The theme of HMD 2024, ‘Fragility of Freedom’. Holocaust survivor Dr Alfred Garwood spoke movingly about the collective trauma felt by survivors after their freedoms had been stripped away. A short film about Otto Goldberger, who came to Northern Ireland to escape the Holocaust, was also played at the Commemoration.
Click the link below to watch the online recording of the poignant and meaningful HMD 2024 Ceremony:
Holocaust Memorial Day 2023
The theme for the 2023 commemoration was ‘Ordinary People’.
Holocaust survivor Eve Kugler with Rachel Century, Deputy CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and Denis McMahon, Permanent Secretary of The Executive Office, at the Regional Commemoration.
Keynote speaker at the event was child survivor of the Holocaust Eve Kugler, who was born in Halle, Germany where her family owned and ran a successful dry goods store. She was seven years old in 1938 when Kristallnacht – the night of the broken glass – took place. Her family was torn apart by the Nazis; her parents survived concentration camps; her youngest sister was forced into hiding, and Eve and her other sister were sent to America and into foster homes. Remarkably, they all survived and were reunited in 1946.
Public Events 2023
Ards and North Down Borough Council Events
In the lead up to the regional HMD 2023, Ards and North Down Borough Council (ANDBC), funded by The Executive Office, worked with local schools and groups to produce artwork for a 2 week exhibition in Bangor Carnegie Library. The exhibition showcased the work of the schools and groups on this year’s theme ‘Ordinary People’ and was launched on 17 January by ANDBC Mayor, Councillor Karen Douglas.
Through the Good Relations Programme, a week long series of talks focusing on the genocides in Srebrenica/Bosnia, Rwanda/Tutsi, Cambodia and Darfur was held. The talks were facilitated online by Peter Osborne with survivors from each of the four genocides telling their stories, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Click on the link below to learn about what happened during the Holocaust and subsequent genocides:
ANDBC hosted Holocaust child survivor Eve Kugler and her companion who arrived on the morning of Monday 22 January 2023. During her visit, Eve did a series of moving talks and interviews with local media. She also planted a tree in ANDBC’s Walled Garden in commemoration to the Holocaust, subsequent genocides and more recent atrocities and visited Millisle Primary school to see their memorial garden.
On the Wednesday Bangor Grammar hosted Eve where she spoke to over 400 young people from 7 post primary schools aged 15-17. All post primary schools in the borough were offered the opportunity to attend. It was a very engaging session where questions from the young people were encouraged.
For more information on local HMD 2023 events please use the links below:
- https://sharedfuture.news/ordinary-peope-an-exhibition-of-standing-up-to-hatred/
- https://sharedfuture.news/persecuting-minorities-beyond-borders-a-holocaust-child-survivors-story/
- https://sharedfuture.news/without-her-i-dont-think-i-would-have-survived-a-rwanda-genocide-story/
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council Events
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, through its Good Relations Programme, commemorated HMD with an evening of drama, poetry and talks on Thursday 26th January 2023.
Cllr Beth Adger, Deputy Mayor, reflected on the 2023 commemorations of HMD:
‘Holocaust Memorial Day provides an opportunity to create a better understanding of the Holocaust and other genocides, particularly among young people with little or no knowledge of the past.
The theme this year highlights that ordinary people, just like you or I, could be caught up in every aspect of genocide – as victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers – if the circumstances permitted. I hope that tonight’s event enabled everyone to take time to reflect on what they, as ordinary people, can do to challenge prejudice today. By attending, everyone contributed to building a future which is free from genocide.
Council works alongside its community planning partners, The Executive Office and communities to create a borough which is a strong and vibrant, safe and inclusive community, where people work together to improve the quality of life for all.
I would like to thank The Executive Office for providing the funding through the District Council Good Relations Programme to enable this significant event to take place.’
The keynote speakers at the event were Dr Carol Rittner and Rev Derek Johnston. Dr Rittner, RSM is Distinguished Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies Emerita at Stockton University, USA. She is the author and/or editor of 19 books, and numerous essays, in various scholarly and educational journals about the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries. Rev Johnston is Lead Chaplain with Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and a member of the NI Board of Remembering Srebrenica.
Jo Zebedee, local author and owner of “The Secret Bookshelf” independent book store in Carrickfergus, read W H Auden’s Refugee Blues. A poem first published in 1939, on the eve of World War II.
The evening also included an abridged version of the play “Judgement at Nuremberg”. The Ad Hoc Theatre Group performed the Abby Mann play, a fictionalised account of the Justice Trial of 1947, as part of the evening of commemorations. The play is set in the later stages of the Nuremberg Trials, where three German judges are accused of perverting the course of justice, and of playing a part in war crimes. The play reflected the ‘Ordinary People’ theme and challenged attendees to ask what would we do in similar circumstances?
A candle lighting ceremony finished the evening accompanied by the exquisite music provided by Sacred Services. A fitting end to a thought provoking and inspiring evening.
HMD 2022
The Northern Ireland Ceremony for HMD 2022 was held online and featured moving survivor testimony and musical performances.
Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke BEM gave a speech on the ‘One Day’ of her birth, on 29 April 1945, at the gates of Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Please click the link below to visit the HMDT website where you can watch the event and read about HMD 2022:
HMD 2021
The Northern Ireland Ceremony for HMD 2021 was held online and unveiled a video poem by Co Down-based artist Csilla Toldy, which was created to commemorate the 75th anniversary.
Please click the link below to visit the HMDT website where you can watch the event and read about HMD 2021: