AN online event is being staged to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day today (Wednesday).

Cheshire East Council is taking part in the Memorial Day, which has been held every year since 2001, to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and genocides worldwide.

You can tune into the virtual service between 11am–12pm on Microsoft Teams.

Council leader Sam Corcoran will give a reading and recite a poem, while deputy leader Craig Browne is to read a survivor's testimony from the Rwandan genocide.

There will be further contributions from the council's executive director of corporate services, Jane Burns and from Judith Hayman, a second generation Holocaust survivor, from the Northern Holocaust Education Trust.

The service will be led by Cheshire East mayor, Cllr Barry Burkhill.

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on January 27, the date Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. The day is also for remembering many other attempted genocides across the world.

The Holocaust resulted in the annihilation of an estimated six million Jews, two million Gypsies, 15,000 homosexual people and millions of others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Since 1945, there have been several other attempted genocides across the world – including Rwanda, Cambodia and Bosnia – and these are also commemorated on Holocaust Memorial Day.

This is the ninth consecutive year Cheshire East Council has held an annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration service.

Cllr Corcoran said: "The importance of remembering the millions of lives lost in genocides worldwide on Holocaust Memorial Day is as vital this year as it is any other. A global pandemic will not stop us from commemorating this very special and poignant occasion."

Cllr Browne said: "It is staggering to think about the atrocities that mankind has committed on people. Reflecting on these inhumane acts serves as a further reminder that we must try to create a tolerant society where we all treat each other with respect and kindness."

You can also watch the national Holocaust Memorial Day virtual ceremony later in the day (7pm), details of which can be found here.

At 8pm people are invited to unite with the nation in "lighting the darkness", joining households from across the UK to light candles and safely display them in their windows to remember the victims, why their lives were taken and to stand against prejudice and hatred today.