Since 2001, the Government has invited British society to observe the 27th of January each year as Holocaust Memorial Day. 27 January is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops. Holocaust Memorial Day is intended to provide an opportunity for reflection on issues raised by all atrocities, especially those events officially designated as genocides.

This year Holocaust Memorial Day is based around the theme of ‘Torn from Home’. The theme encourages audiences to reflect

on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call ‘home’ is part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing persecution and genocide. ‘Home’ usually means a place of safety, comfort and security.

Today we reflect on what happens when individuals, families and communities are driven out of, or wrenched from their homes, because of persecution or the threat of genocide, alongside the continuing difficulties survivors face as they try to find and build new homes when the genocide is over. *

This year, Wakefield undertook an act of remembrance in its Cathedral at a service representative of multiple faiths, agencies, and those from public life in the city and beyond, led by the Right Revd Tony Robinson.