Jane Hutt MS, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
Every year, on 27th January, we mark Holocaust Memorial Day – a moment to reflect on the tragedy of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, to honour the strength and resilience of survivors and their families, and to ensure we do not repeat the horrors of the past.
We remember the six million Jewish people murdered in the Holocaust, people murdered because they were gay, disabled, Roma or Sinti, or trade unionists. We also remember the people of many nationalities across Europe who were persecuted under Nazi occupation. Holocaust Memorial Day is also about the millions of people murdered in more recent genocides, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and suffered by the Yazidi people.
Holocaust Memorial Day is an important reminder that genocide is an extreme end point for behaviour and attitudes which start life as hate and dehumanisation. If groups in our society are blamed, treated as inferior, and then targeted, we will lay the foundations for such atrocities. In the last year, we have seen horrific attacks on our religious communities and vocal hate towards those from ethnic minorities or born outside the UK.
We continue to stand in solidarity with our Jewish and Muslim communities in Wales and are working closely with Jewish community representatives, the Community Security Trust (CST), Muslim Council of Wales and other important stakeholders. The Welsh Government funds the Wales Hate Support Centre, run by Victim Support Cymru, to provide tailored and free support to any victim of hate crime in Wales. Our Hate and Community Tensions Board is the forum which brings together key partners alongside the four police forces in Wales to help us ensure hate is given the priority focus that it deserves.
This work is strengthened by our Community Cohesion Programme, which brings partners together to promote understanding, reduce tensions, and support cohesive and resilient communities across Wales.
The Welsh Government has recently renewed funding for a dedicated Holocaust Memorial Day Trust support worker for Wales for the next three years, helping communities and organisations mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
This year’s theme, “Bridging Generations”, reminds us that remembrance must connect the past with the future, like a bridge. We must ensure that history’s lessons remain alive and relevant. Every generation shares the responsibility of keeping the door to hatred and genocide firmly closed as a discarded relic of the past. We must go on honouring the courage of survivors by ensuring their witness testimonies inspire us to build communities that stand against prejudice. As time passes, this becomes more urgent so that we do not become complacent as a society.
At 8:00pm we ask households across Wales to Light the Darkness — from our capital’s landmarks, including the Welsh Government building, the Senedd, and Cardiff Castle, through our valleys communities with buildings such as the General Office in Ebbw Vale, and along the west coast to the Bandstand and Canolfan Alun R Edwards in Aberystwyth, and council offices across North Wales. Together, these lights will help us to create a symbolic bridge connecting our communities to past we commemorate and a promised future free from hatred.
We remain firmly committed to investing in initiatives to prevent hate, challenge prejudice, and build a Wales where everyone feels safe, valued, and respected. We encourage everyone in Wales to listen to survivor testimonies, light a candle this evening, and share messages of remembrance. Choose not to share messages online which blame particular groups for society’s challenges. Remind each other what ‘Never Again’ truly means and have a conversation about this with someone from another generation.
Let us come together this Holocaust Memorial Day to ensure that the darkness of the Holocaust and the lessons it holds for all of us, are never forgotten.