Holocaust Memorial Day 2023: ceremonies in Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill

HMD is on Friday, January 27, and remembers the six million Jewish people who were murdered during the Holocaust, alongside millions of others who were killed under Nazi persecution.

It also remembers people who have been killed in more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said the theme this year is Ordinary People.

An HMDT spokesperson said: “Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Ordinary people turn a blind eye, believe propaganda, join murderous regimes. And those who are persecuted, oppressed and murdered in genocide aren’t persecuted because of crimes they’ve committed – they are persecuted simply because they are ordinary people who belong to a particular group (eg, Roma, Jewish community, Tutsi). Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses – and ordinary people were victims.”

The Haywards Heath commemoration will be at the Town Hall at 2pm and will be held inside to avoid bad weather. But attendees will still be able to place stones at the War Memorial in Muster Green afterwards. This event has been organised by Haywards Heath Amnesty International and Haywards Heath Town Council.

Irene Balls of Haywards Heath Amnesty International told the Middy: “We’re having an art display, a collaboration between Oathall Community College and Great Walstead School, and the students of the two schools are creating images.”

She said these portraits will depict ordinary people who belonged to the categories of either perpetrators, bystanders or rescuers. They will be on show in the upstairs room at Haywards Heath Town Council.

Irene added that the event will feature a talk by Lesley Urbach from Generation2Generation, a charity that provides speakers to tell their family Holocaust stories. Lesley’s family came from Germany and her mother and aunt arrived in Burgess Hill as children on the Kindertransport. Her talk will feature letters and photographs to bring the experience to life.

Irene said: “Lesley is the daughter and is representing her mother’s experience and her grandparents who were murdered at Auschwitz.”

Members of the public are welcome.

Burgess Hill Town Council’s commemoration will be in the War Memorial Garden in Church Walk. It is set to begin at 10am and members of the public are invited to attend.

A town council spokesperson said: “It will be a multi-faith service, with speakers from Amnesty International, Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue, Burgess Hill Mosque, St John the Evangelist, Burgess Hill Girls and Burgess Hill Academy. Orders of Service will be available to collect from the Help Point on Thursday 26 January, ahead of the service, and will also be provided on the day.”

Lesley Urbach will be a speaker at the Burgess Hill event as well.

Visit www.hmd.org.uk to find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day.

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