Belfast City Hall illuminated for Holocaust Memorial Day

To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, Belfast City Hall was illuminated in purple on Saturday.

The 27th January is the date on which the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945.

One million jewish people were murdered there out of an estimated six million in total.

The theme for the 2024 Holocaust Memorial Day (HND) was "Fragility of Freedom".

"We can all reflect on how freedom is fragile and vulnerable to abuse," said the HMD Trust.

"As we come together in communities around the UK, let’s pledge not to take our freedoms for granted, and consider what we can do to strengthen freedoms around the world."

A Regional Commemoration was hosted by The Executive Office earlier in the week.

In conjunction with the HMD Trust and Belfast City Council, an event on Tuesday heard from Holocaust survivor Dr Alfred Garwood, who spoke movingly about the collective trauma felt by survivors after their freedoms had been stripped away.

Dr Garwood, who along with his family was interned at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from 1943 - 1945, said: “I feel honoured and humbled to be asked to speak in Belfast for Holocaust Memorial Day.

“Being a Holocaust Survivor, later a physician, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist, having endured the troubled times of the Second World War and the Holocaust it has taught me to recognise the suffering of communities who have endured generations of conflict.

"I believe the Northern Ireland community have shown great courage and creativity in working towards, maintaining and protecting their precious and fragile freedom and peace."

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