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Newcastle upon Tyne wins bid to host Holocaust Memorial Day 2007

20 February 2006

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust visited Newcastle today to announce that the city has been chosen to host the United Kingdom’s 2007 Holocaust Memorial Day national event and to publish the theme for 2007 – The Dignity of Difference.

Holocaust Memorial Day falls on the 27th January each year and has been declared as an international day of remembrance by the United Nations. 2007 will be the seventh Holocaust Memorial Day marked in the UK. Newcastle was chosen as host city after an intense and thorough open selection process. The Newcastle event will be held at the famous Theatre Royal in the heart of the city and will be the highlight of a week of commemorative events up and down the country. In 2006 over 400 events were held to mark HMD and more are expected in 2007.

Also today, the HMD Trust published the theme for 2007, “The Dignity of Difference”. Since Holocaust Memorial Day began it has focused each year on a theme, highlighting specific topics or concepts. Newcastle City Council, working in partnership with destination marketing agency NewcastleGateshead Initiative and local event organisers in communities and schools, will create events for 2007 around this theme.

Stephen Smith, Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said:
“I’m delighted to be here in this magnificent city and am very proud to announce that Newcastle will host the United Kingdom’s national commemorative event for Holocaust Memorial Day 2007. The team here impressed the Trust with their creativity and dedication to this important international day of remembrance, and I personally was especially touched by their understanding of the spirit and purpose of Holocaust Memorial Day. HMD is an opportunity to remember and learn from the lessons of the past and it provides a way into discussing difficult issues such as racism, xenophobia, discrimination and bigotry across different faiths and diverse communities.

“This year’s theme, The Dignity of Difference, will provoke people into thinking about and recognising the value of difference.

“Each one of us can look at what we learn from the Holocaust about the consequences of excluding others based on their difference from us. The theme highlights the experiences of a variety of groups under the Nazis and also explores the opportunities this history gives us to consider how we can create a society based on respect for, rather than fear of, difference.”

Councillor Peter Arnold, Leader of Newcastle City Council, said, “We are honoured that Newcastle has been chosen to host the United Kingdom’s national commemorative event for Holocaust Memorial Day 2007. It is an incredibly important occasion and an opportunity to show our commitment as a multi-cultural city to fighting prejudice and racism, and promoting tolerance and our cultural diversity. We now look forward to working with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and NewcastleGateshead Initiative as we begin to plan next year’s events.”

Councillor Jackie Slesenger, Chair of Newcastle City Council’s Holocaust Memorial Day Working Group said:

“I am privileged to be the Chair of Newcastle City Council’s Holocaust Memorial Day Working Group, which has been marking this important day for the past six years. The success of the city’s bid is due to the commitment, enthusiasm and support of the Working Group’s members, and particularly officers of the Council who helped to prepare it.

“Newcastle’s annual commemorative event has become an important time for people from many different parts of the community to come together to remember the victims of the Holocaust and other human atrocities. We look forward to the city hosting the national commemorative event, particularly as this will bring a fuller understanding of the Holocaust to an even wider number of people.”

ENDS

For more information please contact the Holocaust Memorial Day team at Geronimo Communications on 020 7299 8740 or via email at hmd@geronimocommunications.com.

About Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day has been an annual event in the UK since 2001. In November 2005, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution designating 27th January as the annual Holocaust Memorial Day internationally. The date was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The purpose of Holocaust Memorial Day is to remember and learn from the lessons of the past. It provides a way into discussing difficult issues such as racism, xenophobia, discrimination and bigotry across different faiths and diverse communities.

Holocaust Memorial Day provides an opportunity to commemorate all those who were victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution, as well as the victims of racism and discrimination in other genocides, and to show that the events of the Holocaust remain relevant to everyone in the UK today.

About The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

The Home Office has handed day-to-day responsibility for Holocaust Memorial Day to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. HM the Queen is patron of the Trust, which is an independent charitable organisation responsible for taking forward the delivery of Holocaust Memorial Day from 2006 onwards. The Trustees are Dr Stephen Smith, Professor David Cesarani, Jane Clements, Paula Cowan, Louise Ellman MP, Jack Gilbert, Henry Grunwald QC, Agnes Grunwald-Spier, Judith Hassan, Ben Helfgott, Fahmia Huda, Rabbi Barry Marcus, Karen Pollock, and David Russell. The day to day activity of the Trust is managed by Chief Executive,
Nick Joseph.

About Newcastle

Newcastle City Council will be hosting the United Kingdom’s Holocaust Memorial Day national event at the Theatre Royal. The event will be the centrepiece of a programme of events in the city to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. A further announcement to unveil this programme will be made later in the year. 2007 will be Newcastle’s seventh commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day. Each year the city has held an annual event to remember victims of the Holocaust and other atrocities and bring together people from many different parts of the community to make a public stand against discrimination and persecution. This has been the focus of an ever-expanding programme of community-based events around the city.