Mark Francois, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, yesterday attended a service held at Rochford Council’s specially commissioned memorial, outside the Mill Arts & Events Centre in Bellingham Lane, Rayleigh, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Monday 27th January marked the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration and extermination camp which is the site of the largest mass murder in history. This is the fourteenth Holocaust Memorial Day, and the theme this year is ‘Journeys’.
Mark visited Auschwitz-Birkenau with the Holocaust Memorial Trust and Essex students two years ago, to see the horror of the camp for himself.
Commenting on the event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, Mark Francois said:
“Holocaust Memorial Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau – and is an important opportunity to remember both the victims and survivors of genocide, and to commit to ‘speaking up and speaking out’ against prejudice today. I encourage all constituents to mark the day and to join members of my community in the fight against prejudice and intolerance.”