Holocaust Memorial Day – Monday 27 January 2025

Holocaust Memorial Day will be commemorated at the war memorial in Royal Tunbridge Wells on 27 January 2025 from 10.45am.

The Deputy Mayor, Councillor David Osborne, will join others gathered at the memorial from 10.45am. At 11am the Mayor will lay flowers and make an address to those present
The road in front of the war memorial will be closed for a short time between 10.45am and 11.15am.

This Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.

For a Better Future is the theme for 2025 – we can learn both from and about the Holocaust and more recent genocides, for a better future. Learn for a better future. Remember for a better future. Take action for a better future.

Find out about the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony.

Each Holocaust Memorial Day people from across the UK take part in the Light the Darkness national moment. At 8pm you are invited to light a candle and place it safely in a window. This is to remember those who were murdered for who they were and to stand against prejudice and hatred today.

On 25 January to begin the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day locally, The Amelia Scott will host its first Human Library. Visitors will be able to speak to four guests – human books – about their connections to or knowledge of individuals who came to Tunbridge Wells during World War 2 via the Kindertransport

Duncan Lustig-Prean (son of Erica Lustig-Prean: a Kindertransport child), Anne Goldstein (Historian) and John and Di Cullen (former owners of The Beacon Hotel) will be in the Upper Atrium between 3.30pm and 5pm to answer your questions about how, what we know as The Beacon Hotel, helped children escape persecution and their brave journeys.

Find out more about the Human Library.