Wales remembers Holocaust victims 70 years on

Credit: PA Images

Memorial events are taking place across Wales and the rest of the world today to remember the victims of the Holocaust on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration camp where more than one million European Jews were murdered during the Second World War.

Read more: Drone footage shows scale of Auschwitz death camp

Holocaust Memorial Day honours the survivors and remembers those who have lost their lives. This year, the message is "Keep The Memory Alive" to ensure people talk to each other about how far we've come in the UK in commemorating the past and what has been achieved.

Prisoners arrive at Auschwitz in spring 1945 Credit: Press Association Images
The message reads Credit: Holocaust Memorial Day

Remembering the Holocaust: The terrible facts behind the genocide

The international day of remembrance is for victims of the Holocaust and other genocides, including the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, where over 8,000 muslim men and boys were killed in 1995.

A national event will be held in Cardiff attended by First Minister Carwyn Jones and the Lord Mayor of Cardiff.

Pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn in Camarthenshire are also going to the event. Tabitha Jukes and Verity Bentley, took part in the Lessons from Auschwitz project this year and visited the camp as part of an ongoing project organised by the Holocaust Education Trust.

Holocaust survivor Mady Gerrard will also be speaking about her experiences in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Belsen. Mady now lives in Chepstow and is a successful fashion designer and author of her autobiography, ‘Full Circle.’

There will be a candle lighting ceremony where Holocaust survivors such as Mady Gerrard, Terry Farago, Doris Moritz and Eva Gibbor who live in Wales, will pass a candle to pupils from Newbridge High School, Caerphilly.

The First Minister for Wales said remembrance days such as today are important in keeping many victims' courageous stories alive.

Read more: 'I feel like crying' 85-year-old Holocaust survivor returns to Auschwitz

Visit the ITV News main page for more on the Holocaust 70 years on.