West Berkshire Council host Holocaust memorial service

"A day for everyone to pause to remember"

A HOLOCAUST Memorial Day service hosted by West Berkshire Council on Wednesday morning was well supported, despite a downpour.

Around 40 people attended the annual service outside the council’s Market Street offices, with an address by council chairman Peter Argyle, who thanked everyone for coming, despite the dreadful weather.

Mr Argyle then gave a speech about the national memorial day and said: “It is a day for everyone to pause to remember the millions of people killed, or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition, in the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.”

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, said Mr Argyle, had written powerfully about the impact of bystanders: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Graeme Panting, a representative from the Newbury branch of the United Nations Association, then gave a brief speech about the current situations in Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and Iraq and talked about the influx of refugees.

The service included a minute’s silence.