1. January 27 2016

2. Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis attempted to annihilate all of Europe’s Jews. This systematic and planned attempt to murder European Jewry is known as the Holocaust (The Shoah in Hebrew). From the time they assumed power in 1933, the Nazis used propaganda, persecution, and legislation to deny human and civil rights to Jews. By the end of the Holocaust, six million Jewish men, women and children had perished in ghettos, mass-shootings, in concentration camps and extermination camps. - See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/genocides/holocaust#s thash.PB9rndZ9.dpuf

3. Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on 27 January is the day for everyone to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed in Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. 27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. HMD is a time when we seek to learn the lessons of the past and to recognise that genocide does not just take place on its own; it is a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented.

4. Genocides 1975 - 1979: Cambodia The fate of Cambodia shocked the world when the radical communist Khmer Rouge, under their leader Pol Pot, seized power in April 1975 after years of guerrilla warfare. Civilian deaths in this period, from execution, disease, exhaustion and starvation, have been estimated at well over two million. 1994: Rwanda During 100 days in 1994, approximately one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were murdered in the genocide in Rwanda. 1992 - 1995: Bosnia Around 8,000 Muslim men, and boys over 13 years old, were killed in Srebrenica. 2003 - present: Darfur This civil war has led to the deaths of between 200,000 and 400,000 civilians. Up to 2.5 million people are still displaced in Darfur. They have been forced to flee their homes to makeshift refugee camps in Darfur or Chad run by international aid agencies.

5. Elie Wiesel, A Holocaust survivor, wrote: ‘I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.’

6. With the words of Elie Wiesel in mind, today as we remember the Holocaust we commit to not standing by. When we see acts of injustice, we will not stand by. When we hear of intolerance, we will not stand by. When we see people being picked on because of who they are, we will not stand by. And when we see others act on their hatred, we will not stand by.

7. Loving God, as we remember the six million, the indifference, and the evil; As we honour the heroes, the martyrs, the survivors, and the victims, We ask you to soothe our souls, to strengthen our resolve, and to hear our prayers. We ask for your presence in our midst; for healing, light, and love to soothe and ease our pain, as we commemorate the horrors that were committed not long ago..

8. We ask that you strengthen our will, that you help us to ensure that the world does not again see such atrocities. We ask that you answer our prayers. We pray that the call of evil falls on deaf ears and that those who need protection do not become victims. We pray that the lessons we learn from this darkest hour allow all humankind to better itself, and to truly and nobly embody the idea that we are each made in Your image.

9. May God, who is Teacher, Healer, Friend and more, who stays with us and with those forgotten and despised in the world, challenge, cajole and discomfort us out of all complacency, and strengthen, console and guide us into ways of peace and delight, that wars may cease, the unsettled find a home, and the truth be spoken in all gentleness and clarity. Amen.