Bridging generations through remembrance with Holocaust Memorial Day

Hosted by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Dan Cohen, the Holocaust Memorial Day civic event takes place at City Varieties Music Hall at 2:00pm on Sunday 25 January.

The annual Holocaust Memorial Day event is part of a wider International Day of Remembrance. The day focuses on the six million Jewish men, women and children killed in the Holocaust, together with people from other minority groups who died through Nazi persecution. The day also remembers those murdered in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. 

This year, the keynote speaker is Dr Tracy Craggs, head of collections at the Holocaust Centre North, based at the University of Huddersfield.  Tracy has been working with the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association for 18 years, and as Head of Collections for Holocaust Centre North, is responsible for working with Holocaust survivors and their families in securing their wonderful collections for the future. She is also fortunate to have a dual role, looking after the needs of survivors based in Yorkshire.

The event will also feature a multimedia performance of Sight by artist Laura Fisher, using photography, video, sound, and spoken word to focus on the experiences of Holocaust survivor Iby Knill. The artist retraced Iby’s journey across the no man’s land between Czechoslovakia and Hungary in February 1942. This attempt to retrace Iby’s path of survival echoes a similar journey Iby’s son Chris Knill took, in which he travelled to Auschwitz-Birkenau to understand the places that witnessed pivotal parts of his mother’s life.

Music for the event will be performed by the United Hebrew Congregation choir with Rabbi Alby Chait MBE.

Concluding proceedings will be a reading of the seven statements of commitments with candles lit by representatives of the different groups persecuted in the Holocaust, by Nazi persecution and in the subsequent genocides which followed.

A memorial prayer will be sung by the Lord Mayor’s Chaplain, Rabbi Anthony Gilbert, to close the event.

The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Dan Cohen, said: “The lessons of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides should never be forgotten, and that is why Holocaust Memorial Day plays such an important role. These lessons are especially important in a world that is becoming increasingly polarised by division and hate.

“As we listen to the experiences of survivors of genocide and understand the horrors perpetrated by one human on another, we learn why the virtues of peace and tolerance are so important and why we need to bridge the generations to carry those lessons forward.

“Through acts of remembrance and by educating ourselves on the consequences of hate, we learn to challenge intolerance in all its forms and to accept and celebrate our differences.”

Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor James Lewis, said: “As a multicultural global city, Holocaust Memorial Day is a reminder to us all of the consequences of hate, racism, and xenophobia.

“Only by standing shoulder to shoulder as one community, and through accepting and celebrating each other’s differences, can we learn and grow to overcome hate of all kinds.

“Holocaust Memorial Day also plays an important role in reaffirming our commitment to stopping the inhumanity of genocide in the future and building bonds of trust between our many and varied communities here in Leeds.”

Some tickets for the Holocaust Memorial Day event are still available and can be booked free of charge by visiting:  https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/holocaust-memorial-day-2026/

In addition to the civic event, there will also be two other special events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

At the Reginald Centre in Chapel Allerton, on Thursday, 29 January at 7:00pm, the author of The Piano Player of Budapest, Roxanne de Bastion, will be giving an author talk. The book focuses on the true-life experiences of young pianist, Stephen de Bastion, as he descended into the horrors of the Holocaust and his extraordinary subsequent escape.

Tickets for this one-off event are available on a pay-as-you-feel basis by visiting: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/leedslibraryevents/t-dkazroj

A special Holocaust Memorial Day screening of the Oscar-nominated film, ‘A Real Pain’ will also be shown at the Seven Artspace in Chapel Allerton on 22 January at 7:30pm. The comedy-drama film is the story of two mismatched cousins, David and Benji, who tour Poland to honour their grandmother. Their adventure becomes complicated as old tensions resurface while exploring their family history.

Tickets for the film are pay-as-you-can on the door and can be booked by visiting: https://www.sevenleeds.co.uk/event/ 

Ends

Notes for Editors:

Please note: There will be a press photo opportunity at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, 25th January, at City Varieties.