St Albans Deputy Mayor hosts Holocaust Memorial Day service
A moving service to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and other genocides has taken place in St Albans District.
The civic event marked Holocaust Memorial Day, Tuesday 27 January, and was hosted by the Deputy Mayor Councillor Sue Griffiths.
It was an occasion to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other persecuted people killed by the Nazis and later genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda and elsewhere.
Cllr Griffiths welcomed the guests to the event at St Albans City and District Council’s Chamber and Town Crier, Stephen Potter, read a proclamation.
This was inspired by the theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day: Bridging Generations, a reminder that the responsibility of remembrance does not end with the survivors but lives on through their children, grandchildren and everyone else.
Mr Potter told the congregation: “What was suffered must not be forgotten and what was learned must not be lost. We listen to those who came before us. We learn from their stories. We carry them forward.”
Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet, of St Albans Masorti Synagogue, opened the service with music provided by the choir of St Peter’s Church.
Stories by victims of the Holocaust were read by Amanda Foley, Chief Executive of St Albans City and District Council, and Councillor Sandy Walkington, Vice-Chair of Hertfordshire County Council.
There was an address by Peter and Moira Hart, the son and daughter-in-law of Kitty Hart-Moxon, a Holocaust survivor and educational campaigner.
Ella Conway, a children and family educator at the Masorti Synagogue, also spoke about the need for remembrance. She also told of her grandfather’s lived experiences of the Holocaust.
Towards the end of the service, candles were lit by Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, of St Albans United Synagogue, for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides.
Deputy Mayor Griffiths, District Councillor Simon Mostyn, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Rvd Patrick Moriarty and Hertfordshire Police Inspector Paul Caro also lit candles.
This was followed by a minute’s silence, prayers and a closing address by Father Richard Watson, Vicar of St Saviour’s Church, St Albans.
Holocaust Memorial Day falls every year on 27 January, the day the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated in 1945.
Cllr Griffiths, Deputy Mayor of St Albans City and District, said:
Our commemoration service on Holocaust Memorial Day brought together people of many different faiths, united in their show of opposition to prejudice and hate.
Thousands of similar commemorations were being held at the same time around Hertfordshire, the rest of the country and the world.
It was very moving to see our community stand together and honour the millions of people who lost their lives in the Holocaust and other genocides. I thank all those who organised and took part in this especially important event.
You can find information about Holocaust Memorial Day here.
Photos: top, the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Sue Griffiths, centre, with guests at the Holocaust Memorial Day service; below, the Deputy Mayor lights a candle of remembrance.
Media Contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.