Today we recognise Holocaust Memorial Day.
Six million were brutally murdered.
Five million men and women alongside over a million children.
I welcome the emphasis that the Holocaust Commission has put on education, which has been followed up by words from the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.
I had had a vague idea that perhaps 10 of my grandfather’s extended family had died, but we now know that the real figure is more than 110 and possibly more than 120 swept up mainly in the Netherlands to die with Anne Frank and her father in a Polish camp.
That kind of education matters.
The annual event is a day of remembrance, learning and hope. In bringing light to the darkness, we eradicate ignorance and intolerance.
Earlier this week, I signed the Holocaust Educational Trust (UK)'s book of commitment, to pay my respects to the victims and reflect on the darkest times of European and Jewish history.
I welcomed several Holocaust Survivors to Parliament as part of ongoing cross party discussions about how best to create an immortal Monument to the Holocaust.
As the holocaust moves out of living memory, days like this offer moments to remember and to learn from.
Meet hatred with love, and division with unity.
