Channel Islands to mark Holocaust Memorial Day with events and services

There are opportunities for islanders to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday 27 January. Credit: ITV Channel

There are a number of ways islanders can mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday 27 January.

In Guernsey at 1pm, wreaths will be laid at the memorials in White Rock, North Beach, St Peter Port.

There will also be a gathering at the Princess Royal Centre for Performing Arts from 5pm until 6pm which will commemorate victims of the atrocity, as well as other acts of genocide.

It will be led by the Very Reverend Tim Barker, with Sabit Jakupović MBE as the guest speaker, who will share his story of being imprisoned for 120 days in two different concentration camps.  

During the event, Guernsey Music Service Year 6 pupil Solomon Bearder will play the cello - there will also be spoken word by members of the Guernsey Institute's performing arts course.

For islanders in Alderney, a service will be held at the Hammond Memorial with a prayer led by Bishop Michael Langridge on behalf of Alderney Churches Together.

A wreath will then be laid by the island's Vice President Ian Carter.

In Jersey, there will be a gathering at 2pm in the Occupation Tapestry Gallery at the Maritime Museum on the New North Quay.

The guest speaker is Smajo Beŝo, founder of the Bosnian Genocide Education Trust, a charity which commemorates the murder of at least 8,000 men and boys in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995 during the Yugoslav wars.

Several relatives of his were tortured in concentration camps during the conflict, forcing him and his family to flee the country to go to the UK as refugees in the 1990s.

After the talk, members of the Jersey Arts Centre Youth Theatre will deliver readings and the Dean of Jersey, The Very Rev Mike Keirle, will give the closing address.

This will be followed by the laying of wreaths at the Lighthouse Memorial, and will be led by Dr Karen Kyd, wife of the Lieutenant Governor, on behalf of the Crown.

Wreaths will also be laid by the Bailiff, family members of the 21 islanders who died in German prisons and camps during WW2, and the Jersey Jewish Congregation.