Service in Sandwell to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2024
We held our annual Holocaust memorial service on Sunday 28 January 2024, from 11am – 12 noon.
The service was held in the Memorial Gardens at Highfields House (Sandwell Register Office), High Street, West Bromwich.
Former Mayor of Sandwell, Dr Ann Jaron, spoke at the service, talking about her grandfather, Professor Marian Gieszczykiewicz. He was arrested during the Second World War for running an underground university and providing medical services in the Krakow ghetto. He was taken to Auschwitz where he was murdered in July 1942.
Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January) is a day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution, and in the genocides that followed in places including Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 was Fragility of Freedom which focused on how genocides restrict people’s liberty, as well as reminding us that freedom should never be taken for granted.
Sandwell held its Holocaust memorial service on the closest Sunday (28 January) to Holocaust Memorial Day.