In the run-up to this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, we pull together some of the best events taking place across the UK and online

London

Friday 23 January
Holocaust Memorial Day
The theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, Bridging Generations, emphasises the importance of carrying memories forward through action. With the number of survivors decreasing, it’s more important than ever to remember the atrocities, and to commit to a future shaped by empathy and understanding.
10.30am. FREE. JW3, NW3 6ET. jw3.org.uk

*The Commandant’s Shadow © Warner Bros Pictures / HBO*

Sunday 25 January
Holocaust Memorial Day
Commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day in an evening of discussion, poetry, music and reflection. Guests include speakers Tali Smus, who discusses life as a Jewish student in London, Rabbi Golker of Richmond Synagogue and Councillor Penny Frost, Mayor of Richmond upon Thames. Plus live music from Steve Levi of klezmer band Oi Va Voi.
7pm. FREE. Richmond Synagogue, TW9 1AP. richmondjewishcommunity.org.uk

Tuesday 27 January
The Commandant’s Shadow
To commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, Westminster Synagogue hosts a memorial service and candle lighting ahead of a screening of The Commandant’s Shadow. Hans Jürgen Höss, the 87-year-old son of Rudolf Höss, who was the camp commandant of Auschwitz and mastermind behind the murder of over one million Jews, faces his father’s terrible legacy. This feature-length documentary unravels the story of those who lived on-site at the death camp and compares the differing burdens faced by both Hans and survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch as they come face to face, together with their children. It also provides a fresh perspective on hope, acceptance and compassion. Followed by a Q&A with producer Gloria Abramoff.
6.30pm. £20. Westminster Synagogue, SW7 1BX. westminstersynagogue.org

Manchester

Sunday 25 January
Music of the Shoah
Canadian musician Lenka Lichtenberg commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day with songs inspired by the poetry of female Holocaust survivors. She blends folk, jazz and more with testimonies of Polish women survivors and pieces written in Theresienstadt. Sung mostly in Yiddish with English translations, the performance weaves together themes of hope, love, loss and resilience.
7pm. £15. Manchester Jewish Museum, M8 8LW. manchesterjewishmuseum.com

Yorkshire

Tuesday 27 January
Holocaust Memorial Day
The Holocaust Centre North invites you to remember victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides and atrocities across the world. Hear an interview between the centre’s head of collections Dr Tracy Craggs and Holocaust survivor Iby Knill, joined by her daughter Pauline and son Chris. Plus representatives from 6Million+, a community arts charity that creates installations and events commemorating the Jews and other minorities killed in the Holocaust and continuing genocides, and students from local Carlton Primary School.
6pm. FREE. Holocaust Centre North, Schwann Building, University of Huddersfield, HD1 3DH. holocaustcentrenorth.org.uk

*Photo of Iby Knill from the Holocaust Centre North Archive, courtesy of the family – Chris Knill and Pauline Kinch*

Online

Tuesday 20 January
What Remains: Personal Objects and the Memory of the Holocaust
Children of survivors are joined by scholars to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, the theme of which is Bridging Generations. The panel will explore the role of material objects – like personal belongings and everyday items – as carriers of memory, the impact they have on legacies and how they sustain Holocaust education beyond testimony. Academic Hannah Wilson (University of Manchester), historian Deborah Jaffé, the daughter of a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany, and professor Svenja Bethke (Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies), discuss what it means to remember through physical items, and the questions this raises about unusual archives.
6pm. FREE. ONLINE. wienerholocaustlibrary.org

By Dani Silver and Danielle Goldstein

Find more events across the UK and online on the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website.