A Borth woman will honour her grandfather this week on International Holocaust Memorial Day.
On Friday, 27 January, Jackie Bat-isha from Borth will join the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, held annually to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945.
She will be honouring and remembering her grandfather, Lieb Nussbaum, who was among the millions murdered under Nazi persecution in Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland.
Lieb Nussbaum was arrested with others in Vichy France whilst fleeing the Nazis from his home in Belgium.
He was taken to a holding camp in Drancy, Paris and from there to Auschwitz on 9 September 1942. Documents list him as ‘gassed on arrival’.
This year as every year there will be memorial services to honour and remember those who were murdered in the Holocaust.
An online ceremony will be streamed live on the Holocaust Memorial Day website on Thursday, 26 January between 7pm and 7.45pm.
Readers can register for the event on the Holocaust Memorial Day website www.hmd.org as well as order a candle to light in their window for the Light the Darkness national moment at 4pm on Friday, 27 January.
To mark the event Ceredigion County Council will be illuminating civic buildings and the National Library will also be illuminated.
Speaking to the Cambrian News, Jackie said: “There are no graves for the millions murdered in the Holocaust. There are not even any markers now for many of the Jewish villages that were totally obliterated. Holocaust Memorial Day keeps the names alive and helps to ensure that the story is told.
“The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day this year is ‘Ordinary People’. Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses – and ordinary people were victims.
“Antisemitism continues online and on our streets. Holocaust deniers are not hard to find and it is important to remember that the Holocaust began in one of the most culturally sophisticated countries in Europe.”
“The Community Security Trust, that seeks to protect the Jewish communities in the UK reported 2,255 anti-Jewish hate incidents in the UK in 2021. That figure is a 34 per cent increase from incidents reported in 2020.
“Jewish communities are under threat in many countries of the world. Jewish schools and synagogues must be constantly under guard.
“If we think about the population of Wales – just over three million people – in a country rich in traditions, heritage and language, it brings a wider context. Six million Jewish people were murdered in The Holocaust and much of their rich heritage, traditions and language died with them. Please mark the day for Remembrance and Awareness.”
Holocaust Memorial Day will also be marked in Cardiff at 11am on Friday, 27 January when an online ceremony will be streamed on Cardiff Council’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/cardiffcouncil