The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 is Be the light in the darkness. It encourages everyone to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to, but also the ways individuals and communities resisted that darkness to ‘be the light’ before, during and after genocide.
Hundreds of groups from across the UK took part in our 75 Memorial Flames project to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Explore our 75 Memorial Flames map to see the artworks and learn more about the groups.
HMDT staff share books and articles by black and mixed-race voices that they have been reading. With topics including the history of the British Empire and personal testimony of anti-black racism, this selection of writing offers opportunities to better understand the experiences of black people.
Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.
Between 1941 and 1945, six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Their attempt to murder all the Jews in Europe, shook the foundations of civilisation.
The Nazis targeted anyone they believed threatened their ideal of a ‘pure Aryan race’, including Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, gay people, political opponents and others.
From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, imposed an extremist programme to reconstruct Cambodia. Millions of people died through starvation, disease and exhaustion, and thousands were executed.
In a violent outpouring in 1994, approximately one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered in just 100 days in the Genocide in Rwanda.
In July 1995, against the backdrop of an ongoing civil war, Bosnian Serb forces led by Ratko Mladić murdered around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica.
In 2003 a civil war began in the region of Darfur. Arab militia, known as the Janjaweed attacked black African people, destroying entire villages, murdering civilians and displacing many more.
The experiences of Holocaust and genocide survivors, as well as those who were murdered, give us a unique insight into the lives of those who have endured persecution.
Explore our collection of Life Stories
Helen was one of around only 750 people to be liberated from the Łódź Ghetto, out of 250,000 people sent there. Her mother and brother survived with her, but her father was murdered at Chełmno.
Hatidža’s husband and sons were murdered alongside more than 8,000 men and boys at the genocidal massacre in Srebrenica. In 2002, Hatidža founded the Mothers of Srebrenica to ensure their killers were brought to justice.
Martin Niemöller is best known for writing the famous poem First They Came, but he is a complicated figure. Initially an antisemitic Nazi supporter, his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for opposing Nazi control of churches.
Baronita Adam is a member of the Roma community. Through a project with the Roma Support Group, she has spoken about the prejudice she has faced in her lifetime, and shared her mother’s memories of being targeted by the Nazis and imprisoned in a concentration camp.
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust provides free resources for everyone to get involved with Holocaust Memorial Day. From lesson plans and assemblies to poems and films, our resources will help you organise meaningful activities for Holocaust Memorial Day.
Discover our resources
These guidelines for teachers provide support in tackling the subjects of the Holocaust and genocide with students of different ages and abilities, and how to mark HMD in education settings in ways that are sensitive and impactful for students.
This resource is designed to be accessible for people with a range of SEN requirements or disabled people, and is available for anyone who would like to take a creative approach to marking HMD. It is suitable for use in an education or community setting.
This activity is suitable for use by secondary schools, young people and HMD activity organisers. Explore case studies of people affected by the Holocaust and genocides who took action to make a change, and plan your own social action.