The liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau on the 27^th January 1945 is commemorated annually on International Holocaust Memorial Day.

There will be a service at Ripon Cathedral on Friday, 27^th January, at 10.30am to mark the occasion. The cathedral is working together with members of the Hebrew Synagogue in Harrogate and the service will involve pupils from Ripon Cathedral Primary School, St.Wilfrid’s Roman Catholic Primary School and Outwood Academy.

Ripon Cathedral’s Canon Chancellor, Canon Matthew Pollard said: “It is important that we never forget the six million people who died in the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s.  And we must also never forget the people who have died in holocausts since in Rwanda, Darfur, Cambodia and Bosnia.  Ripon Cathedral works together with people of goodwill, of all faiths and none, to speak out against hatred and to promote justice, peace and reconciliation.  Everyone is welcome to attend the service to keep alive the memory of those who died and to make an act of commitment to celebrate our shared humanity.”

The service will be attended by the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Mrs Jo Ropner, representing His Majesty the King, the Mayors of Ripon and Harrogate, Cllr Sid Hawke and Cllr Victoria Oldham and the Vice Chair of North Yorkshire Count Council, Cllr David Ireton.