The Salisbury City Council communities team is working with residents and schools to commemorate the occasion.
This year’s theme, set by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, is “For a Better Future”, so the event will look both backwards and forwards.
The international day remembers the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and the millions more killed through the Nazi persecution of other groups.
It also remembers more recent genocides, such as those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur (western Sudan).
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, and the 30th anniversary of Bosnian genocide.
In November, Salisbury City Council’s administration dismissed claims the authority will ‘dilute’ Holocaust Memorial Day by taking a “different approach” to the event.
An email sent to councillors said it would mark the occasion with an event that will not “single out any one cultural group” but “celebrate them all”.
Reform UK councillor Edward Rimmer accused the administration of “targeted erasure” and “moral cowardice” over its plans, but Labour administration group leader Ian Tomes hit back, responding: “We are sticking rigidly to what the memorial day is about.”
The day will be marked at the Guildhall (Image: Newsquest) A city council spokesperson said: “The event will take place on Monday, January 27 at the Guildhall at 10.30am with invited representatives of communities, groups, organisations and faiths from across the city in attendance.
“The event will include readings, presentations and music for reflection alongside many of the familiar aspects from previous years, including a minute silence and the reading of the Stockholm Statements of Commitment.
“This has become a core moment of the city’s response to this day, creating an opportunity to collectively state that Salisbury ‘will continue to encourage Holocaust remembrance by holding an annual Holocaust Memorial Day’.
“In addressing this year’s theme, local school and college students will speak to the present and the future by presenting on what these dark moments in global history mean to them today and to look at active ways to combat discrimination.”
Poems from last year’s competition will be displayed alongside resources and materials from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
The Banqueting Hall at the Guildhall will be open to the public from midday until 5pm to allow people to sign a memorial book and take a moment to reflect.
Anyone who wishes to attend must register their details at https://form.jotform.com/243382964834063 or by calling 01722 417100.
To represent a group or participate in the event, contact the communities team by emailing communities@salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk or call 01722 417 100.