Public urged ‘don’t stand by’
Holocaust Memorial day theme.
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2016, which will take place on 27 January, is ‘Don’t stand by’.
The organisers, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said: ‘The Holocaust and subsequent genocides took place because the local populations allowed insidious persecution to take root. Whilst some actively supported or facilitated state policies of persecution, the vast majority stood by silently – at best, afraid to speak out; at worst, indifferent. Bystanders enabled the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides.’
This year’s theme is deliberately forward-looking, with a clear call to action in the present. It focuses on the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, and urges the public not to be bystanders to hate crime and prejudice, or to international threats of genocide.
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel wrote: ‘I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.’
