As Sunday 27 January marked Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK, elected representatives across Northern Ireland have stressed the importance of remembering atrocities of the past.

The memorial remembers those who suffered under Nazi persecution, including six million Jews who lost their lives as well as millions killed in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Speaking ahead of a memorial event at Belfast City Hall, Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn said the day is a "vital tool for people to both remember the horrors perpetrated in the past and also work to ensure we never have the circumstances where they can be repeated again".

"This year's theme of Torn from Home is particularly important, given what we are seeing around the world with many refugees. People who are suffering and in some cases dying to flee persecution, who have to live in camps as their home, and are subject to dehumanising language and actions by others.

"Although the events of the Holocaust may seem long ago, intolerance needs to be challenged at every turn. I would encourage everyone to mark this day in the ongoing fight against prejudice."

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey said the genocide must never be forgotten.

"The planned genocide and extermination of the Jewish population carried out by the Nazi regime during the Second World War was one of the darkest crimes against humanity," the west Belfast MP commented.

"Over six million Jewish men women and children were murdered. 

"Up to five million others, including members of the Roma community, and groups and individuals who spoke out or tried to resist fascism, were also murdered in Nazi concentration camps.

"We must never forget the horror of the Holocaust and in other more recent genocides in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur and we must unite to challenge fascism, sectarianism, racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia wherever it occurs in our society."



(JG/CM)