BROMSGROVE political and church leaders, council dignitaries, and school pupils joined with others around the world to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The annual event is held every year on January 27, and gives people the chance to reflect and learn the lessons of the holocaust and subsequent genocides.

The date is significant as it is the anniversary of the day, in 1945, on which the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp.

Bromsgrove’s event, organised by the district council, was held at Sanders Park last Friday, with the theme for this year’s event inspired by the message Speak Up, Speak Out - encouraging people to voice the things they believe to create a safe and better future.

Among those who attended and spoke at the event were Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, district council leader Roger Hollingworth, and the council’s chief executive Kevin Dicks.

In the introduction, civic leader Caroline Spencer told those who gathered: “Holocaust Memorial Day is the international day of remembrance.

“Our responsibility is to remember those who were persecuted and murdered, because their lives were wasted.

“Our challenge is to make the experience and words of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides a meaningful part of our future.”

Representatives from Bromsgrove churches and youngsters from towns schools in attendance, including Bromsgrove School, North and South Bromsgrove High, Waseley Hills High, Aston Fields Middle, and Parkside Middle schools, also spoke.

The last post was played, and a two minute silence was observed during the service.

For more details on the international memorial day, see www.hmd.org.uk