Holocaust Memorial Day in Burgess Hill: town council set to hold service at War Memorial Gardem

It takes place on Monday, January 29, at the War Memorial Garden in Church Walk.

The council said members of the local community are invited to join the service, which starts at 10.30am and has the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s theme of ‘Fragility of Freedom’.

Irene Balls, of Amnesty International, said: “Holocaust Memorial Day is a day when we not only remember specific events in the past when people were oppressed, but actually killed because of who they were. The genocide of Jews, the mass killings of Roma, Sinti, disabled people, gay people – denied human rights and murdered by the Nazi regime. Since the Nazi Holocaust there have been genocide atrocities including from Cambodia, Bosnia, Darfur and Rwanda. The persecution of the Rohingya people in Myanmar is current. There is a critical lesson to learn – we must never forget the evils of the past.”

In photos – the key 2024 events at South of England Showground

This year’s theme looks at the restriction and removal of freedoms of those targeted for persecution, as well as those who risk their freedom to help others.

The town council said 2024 marks the 85th anniversary of the arrival of the Kindertransport in Burgess Hill. A council spokesperson said: “Between 1939 and 1940/41, up to 50 Jewish girls from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia stayed at Wyberlye Ladies Convalescent Home, run by the Grand Order of the Sons of Jacob, a Jewish-friendly society. The service will be multi-faith, including speakers from Amnesty International, Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue, St John the Evangelist, Burgess Hill Academy and Burgess Hill Girls.”