Previous Holocaust Memorial Days

Each year the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust announce an annual theme that provides those preparing HMD activities with fresh ideas for interesting and inspiring commemorations. Newcastle's Holocaust Memorial Day programme focuses on the national theme.  

On this page you will find details of some of the past Holocaust Memorial Day events and activities that have been held in Newcastle.

• Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 - For a Better Future
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 - Fragility of Freedom
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 - Ordinary People
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 - One Day
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 - Light the Darkness
• Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 - Stand Together

Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 - For a Better Future

“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?" – Sophie Scholl's last words.

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2025 marked  80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. It was also the thirtieth anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia. The theme was 'For a Better Future'.

Sophie Scholl, was a 21 year old college student and member of the non-violent White Rose Group when she was executed for handing out leaflets calling for passive resistance against the Nazi government. Sophie gave her life For a Better Future.

Following the 7 October attacks by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza there was an increase in antisemitism in the UK and extremists exploited the situation to stir up anti-Muslim hatred. People and communities felt vulnerable, with hostility and suspicion of others rising. 

Newcastle's Holocaust Memorial Day events paid tribute to those who were persecuted, attacked and killed during the Holocaust and the genocides that followed. They also served as a reminder that we must carry on their legacy by committing to working together  'For a Better Future' for everyone.

Our thought provoking Holocaust Memorial Day programme included:

A Living Tradition: Remembering the Relief of Belsen

Two events to commemorate and celebrate the role played by one of our local regiments n the Relief of Belsen in the spring of 1945 The 113 LAA RA TA were affiliated to the Durham Light Infantry and helped Jewish, Roma and other survivors. The event included illustrated talks by local historian Peter Sagar and ex-MEP Julie Ward and the screening of an interview with Frank Lavin from Hartlepool, whose father Wilf was part of the DLI detachment at Bergen-Belsen in April and May 1945. 

Turning to Face the Sun - Performance event

Skimstone Arts presented a story sharing event using light, audio and live performances. Inspired by Ukrainian, Jewish, Palestinian, Kurdistan, Iraqi and other war testimonies the event explored what it means to look for hope and resolution and to dream of a better future and what part we can play as individuals. 

Peace is Personal - Talk

Smajo Beso OBE was born in Bosnia in 1985. His father and male relatives were tortured in concentration camps as Bosnian Muslims became targets of genocide. Some of his family were murdered. Smajo and his family arrived in Newcastle as refugees in 1994, when he was just nine years old.  To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary, join Smajo as he shares his first hand account of the Bosnian genocide.

You can find out about all our Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 programme of events here.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 - Fragility of Freedom

"That is when the trouble started for the Jews. Our freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees." - Anne Frank, Diary entry, Saturday 20 June 1942, reflecting on the Germans arriving in the Netherlands in May 1940.

Freedom means different things to different people. What is clear is that in every genocide the freedom of those persecuted is restricted and remove before many of them are murdered. It is often a subtle, slow process that goes unnoticed. The perpetrators don't just erode the freedom of the people they target. They demonstrate the 'Fragility of Freedom' to prevent others from challenging their regime. Despite this, in every genocide, there are people who risk their own freedom to help others. They stand up to the persecutors to preserve the freedom of others. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day was 'Fragility of Freedom'.

Newcastle's Holocaust Memorial Day programme was a moving tribute to those who lost their lives or suffered in the Holocaust and the genocides that followed with a focus on how, in all genocides, freedoms that we take for granted is so fragile they can be lost in no time at all. The Fragility of Freedom is as real in areas of conflict today as it was in 1945. 

Our programme began with the 'A Night of Fear' exhibition in the Newcastle City Library. Skimstone Arts combined real life stories from the Holocaust and other genocides with songs, poems, photographs and drawings by artists and young people living in the north east to create a thought-provoking exhibition based on the Fragility of Freedom.

The moving programme of events and activities included:

Survivors: Children's lives after the Holocaust - Talk

Children who survived the Holocaust often can't remember much about life before the war. With memories that are vague or non-existent one question they often ask is "How can we make sense of our lives when we don't know who we are or where we come from?" 

In her award winning book Survivors, Durham University's Professor Rebecca Clifford, follows the lives of 100 Jewish children from the ruins of conflict, through their adult life and into old age. In this online talk by Professor Clifford talked about the research she used when writing her book and reflect on the stories she was told.

Persecution of the Roma people - Exhibition

Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators with many more imprisoned, used for forced labour and subjected to forced sterilisation and medical experiments.

But despite the high death toll awareness of the persecution of Roma people is low and it is little wonder the Roma Holocaust is often referred to as the 'Forgotten Holocaust.'

In 1936 the Nazis decided to clear Berlin of Roma and Sinti people before the city hosted the Olympic Games with many imprisoned or moved to camps. The genocide intensified at the start of World War 2 as Roma people were deported to ghettos and concentration camps.  

At Auschwitz-Birkenau they were sent to a specific camp known as the 'Gypsy Camp'. Thousands of Roma and Sinti people were held in the camp. On 2 August 1944 the 'Gypsy Camp' was liquidated. Thousands of men, women and children were murdered in the gas chambers wit the remaining prisoners deported to Buchenwald and Ravensbruck concentration camps to be used for forced labour. 

You can find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 programme of events and activities here.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 - Ordinary People

"What is abnormal is that I am normal.  That I survived the Holocaust and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to write, to have toast and tea and live my life - that is what is abnormal" - Elie Wiesel, survivor of the Holocaust

Ordinary People were perpetrators and bystanders, witnesses and rescuers.  And those persecuted, oppressed and murdered were - are - also Ordinary People.  They're not criminals, they haven't done anything wrong, they are just Ordinary People who belong to a particular group or community that their persecutors do not like. The theme for Holocaust memorial Day 2023 was 'Ordinary People'. 

In Newcastle our programme considered the role Ordinary People played in genocide while also thinking about how Ordinary people, like all of us, can play a bigger part that we could ever imagine in challenging the prejudice, discrimination and hatred that still exists in the world 

Our programme of events began with an opening reception and talk by Mark Wilson about his exhibition 'A Wounded Landscape: Bearing Witness to the Holocaust'.

The compelling programme included the following events:

Where do you sit

A poignant exhibition of photographic portraits of ordinary people, living locally and internationally, who have shared extraordinary stories. Every sitting portrait was accompanied by a unique story of surviving genocide, losing and finding new homelands and how other ordinary people show extraordinary kindness and courage. 

How the world learnt about the Holocaust - Lecture

Our current understanding of the Holocaust is radically different to that of those who lived through World War 2.  In this lecture Dr Ian Biddle explored the process by which we came to understand the Holocaust.

You can find information on all the Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 programme of events and activities here.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 - One Day

"One Day Grett, my school friend, greeted me with an embrace. The next day'  she ran across the road and turned her head away so as not to acknowledge me." - Iby Knill, survivor of the Holocaust

Survivors of the Holocaust and of genocide often talk about the One Day when everything changed, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Memorial Day in 2022 was 'One Day'.  

Newcastle's enlightening and thought-provoking Holocaust Memorial Day programme was based on local organisations and groups interpretation of the theme One Day. The programme included films, talks, concerts and exhibitions. 

One Day Changes

The thought provoking exhibition used moving images to show how, in One Day, the normal lives of whole communities were broken with people being forced to flee their homes and become refugees searching for a place of safety.

The Opera

Brundibar was written by Hans Krasa as an entry for a children's opera competition in Czechoslovakia in 1938. The country was occupied by the Nazis before the winner was announced and Krasa was arrested and deported to Terezin concentration camp.  In 1943, Brundibar was smuggled into the camp and Krasa created a new orchestral arrangement using instruments available in the camp.  

The Terezin version was performed fifty five times.  The last performance was held during an inspection of the camp by the International Red Cross in September 1944.  The production was moved to a large hall outside the camp and the stage designer was given everything he needed to improve the set and costumes.  The final scene was captured for a Nazi propaganda film. Immediately after the last performance the cast, musicians and composer were transported to Auschwitz and murdered.  

You can find information on all the Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 programme of events and activities here.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 - Light the Darkness

"We will continue to do our bit for as long as we can, secure in the knowledge that others will continue to light a candle long after us." - Gena Turgel, survivor of the Holocaust (1923-2018)

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 was ‘Be the light in the darkness’. It encouraged people to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to and celebrate those who resist the darkness and who are the light before, during and after genocide . 

Due to the COVID pandemic Newcastle's programme was moved online and we worked with local communities and faith-based organisations to develop activities and events that encouraged residents to be shining lights of hope during dark and difficult times now and in the future.   

North East Council of Jewry

The Representative Council of North East Jewry (Rep Council)  unique and thought-provoking film for 'Be the Light in the Darkness' was first published on Sunday 24 January 2021 to coincide with the lighting-up of the Civic Centre.

You can find out more at https://www.northeastjewish.org.uk/      

Genocide in Bosnia: A Warning from History

Genocide in Bosnia: A Warning from History features an interview with Smajo Beso from the Northeast Bosnian community, in which he talks about his early life in Bosnia, including how he had to flee during the war in 1990s, and his journey since then.  

Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 - Stand Together

"Don't be content in your life just to do no wrong, be prepared every day to try and do some good." - Sir Nicholas Winton, who rescued 669 children from Nazi occupied Europe.

Holocaust Memorial Day in 2020 marked 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was also marked the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.  The theme for HMD 2020 was 'Stand Together'.

Around the country hundreds of groups created Memorial Flame artwork and 75 of these were selected for a national exhibition to mark 75 years since the end of the Holocaust.  The exhibition was launched at the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony in 2020.  A digital version of the exhibition can be found here. Artwork from two Newcastle based groups, Projects4Change and Monkfish Productions, were included in the 75 Memorial Flames exhibition that was held in London.

Project4Change - Holding On

Children and young people at Projects4Change at the Cowgate Centre learned about the Holocaust as part of a Flame for Memorial project based on people's experiences of the Holocaust. The group's starting point for the project was a visit from Marta Josephs who talked about her father's moving story of survival and the importance of remembering and learning from the Holocaust.

Monkfish Projections - A Little Bit of Good in the World

This Memorial Flame artwork was inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu's quote "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

Members of the Good Space work place community worked with Monkfish Productions and the Volunteer Centre Newcastle to create this artwork which captures the idea that by Standing Together and reaching out with compassion and kindness to others we can work together to change the world.  

You can find information on all the Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 programme of events and activities here.