Landmarks across Borough to be lit purple for Holocaust Memorial Day

Newport Bridge and Stockton's town centre and riverside will be bathed in purple this month (Tuesday, 27 January) to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The international event will also be commemorated with a poignant evening in Stockton Central Library on Monday, 26 January, where the Borough's residents can reflect and remember.

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) takes place each year to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution and in genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

Residents and visitors are invited to join the Mayor of Stockton-on-Tees, Councillor Stephen Richardson, and other dignitaries in Stockton Central Library from 5:30pm to 6:30pm at Monday's event, based on this year's theme for HMD, 'Bridging Generations'.

This is a reminder that the responsibility of remembrance doesn't end with the survivors - it lives on through their children, their grandchildren and through all of us.

This year Andrew White will share his mother Lucy White's testimonial. Hungarian-born Lucy survived two Nazi concentration camps and two slave labour camps during the Second World War before being liberated by the British Army. She then then spent time after liberation as a translator for the allied forces before coming to the UK.

Arco String Duo will perform Even When He Is Silent, a short piece of music inspired by a deeply moving text, written by a Jewish individual hiding during the war and found scratched on the walls of tunnels in Cologne, Germany.  

At the end of the evening, which will be hosted by the Mayor, a remembrance candle will be lit.

The event is free but ticketed and has been organised with Shabana Marshall, Educator for the Holocaust Education Trust.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to sign a book of reflection at Billingham, Norton, Stockton Central, Thornaby Central and Yarm libraries from Thursday 22 January.

Councillor Nigel Cooke, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, Leisure and Culture, said: "Marking World Holocaust Day annually is important, not least in helping educate younger generations to ensure these atrocities are neither forgotten nor repeated.

"This year the organisers of Holocaust Memorial Day are encouraging us all to engage actively with the past - to listen, to learn and to carry those lessons forward."

Tickets are limited for the event at Stockton Central Library. To register visit Stockton Central Library's webpage.