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HMD 2025: For a Better Future

HMD 2025: For a Better Future

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The Holocaust and genocides

Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups, and in more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The Holocaust

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.

Learn about the Holocaust

Nazi Persecution

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.

Learn about Nazi persecution

Cambodia

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.

Learn about Cambodia

Rwanda

In a violent outpouring in 1994, approximately one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered in just 100 days in the Genocide in Rwanda.

Learn about Rwanda

Bosnia

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.

Learn about Bosnia

Darfur

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.

Learn about Darfur

Life Stories

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
Yvonne Bernstein The Holocaust

Yvonne Bernstein

Yvonne Bernstein was one of thousands of Jewish children hidden across Europe during the Holocaust. Her identity disguised, she was able to survive, avoiding the fate of 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered.

 Catherine Duleep Singh The Holocaust

Catherine Duleep Singh

Catherine Duleep Singh was a Sikh Princess who grew up in Norfolk. She helped Jewish Families escape Nazi Germany and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Indian Schindler’.

Smajo Bešo OBE Bosnia

Smajo Bešo OBE

Smajo Bešo has seen the worst and best of humanity. After surviving the horrors of the genocide in Bosnia, he found refuge and safety in the UK where he now proudly embraces his Bosnian roots and new-found Geordie identity.

Antoinette Mutabazi Rwanda

Antoinette Mutabazi

Antoinette Mutabazi is a child survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. She endured a harrowing 90-day period, hiding from the killers who murdered many of her family members.