Each year on 27 January the world marks Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). HMD has been held in the UK since 2001. 27 January was chosen as the date for HMD because it was on this date in 1945 that the largest Nazi killing camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. What is HMD about? It is about remembering the victims and those whose lives have been changed beyond recognition by the Holocaust of World War II, Nazi persecution and other genocides (killing of a racial or cultural groups) in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and the ongoing atrocities today in Darfur. Why should we have a special day to remember these victims? HMD provides us with an opportunity to honour the survivors but it’s also a chance to look to our own lives and communities today. Genocide doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a gradual process which begins when the differences between us are not celebrated but used as a reason to exclude or victimise others. By learning from the lessons of the past, we ca...