Holocaust Memorial Day 2025

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

On 13 February 2025, the House of Lords will debate the following motion:

Lord Khan of Burnley (Labour) to move that this House takes note of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Lord Khan is a parliamentary under secretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government with ministerial responsibility for community relations and faith matters.^[1]

1. What is Holocaust Memorial Day?

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is the international day on 27 January to remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside those murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and during more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.^[2] HMD was created in 2000 when 46 governments signed the Stockholm Declaration, committing them to preserving the memory of those murdered in the Holocaust.^[3] The United Nations also marks 27 January as an annual International Day of Commemoration to remember the victims of the Holocaust.^[4]

HMD takes place on 27 January because it is the anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, by Soviet troops in 1945. This year’s HMD marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.^[5]

The UK currently holds the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The IHRA is an intergovernmental organisation with 35 member countries and eight observer countries, founded in 1998 by former Swedish prime minister Göran Persson to address issues related to the Holocaust and genocide of the Roma.^[6] The current chair of the IHRA is Lord Pickles.

2. Theme of Holocaust Memorial Day 2025

The theme of HMD 2025 was ‘for a better future’.^[7] Outlining the reasoning for the theme, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust cited the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and a recent rise in antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred:

80 years on from the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, antisemitism (anti-Jewish hatred) has increased significantly in the UK and globally following the 7 October [2023] attacks in Israel by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza. Extremists are exploiting the situation to stir up anti-Muslim hatred in the UK. Many UK communities are feeling vulnerable, with hostility and suspicion of others rising. We hope that HMD 2025 can be an opportunity for people to come together, learn both from and about the past, and take actions to make a better future for all.

There are many things we can all do to create a better future. We can speak up against Holocaust and genocide denial and distortion; we can challenge prejudice; we can encourage others to learn about the Holocaust and more recent genocides.^[8]

For HMD 2025 the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has held a digital exhibition of 80 bespoke candleholders designed and created by communities and organisations from across the UK that highlight the life of an individual or a community persecuted by the Nazis. The trust says the project gave “communities the chance to come together to create something bespoke, meaningful and memorable” to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.^[9]

3. How was Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 marked by UK figures?

King Charles III became the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau when he attended this year’s commemoration. In a speech at a Jewish community centre in the Polish city of Krakow ahead of the visit, the King said it was vital to remember the past:

In a world that remains full of turmoil and strife, and has witnessed the dangerous re-emergence of antisemitism, there can be no more important message—especially as the United Kingdom holds the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

As the number of Holocaust survivors regrettably diminishes with the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders, and on those of generations yet unborn. The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task and in so doing, we inform our present and shape our future.^[10]

The King also hosted an event to mark HMD at Buckingham Palace, lighting a candle in memory of those killed in the Holocaust and more recent genocides.^[11] The BBC also hosted a range of programming to mark HMD.^[12] In addition, landmarks, buildings and monuments were lit up in purple as part of the ‘light the darkness’ national moment, including the London Eye and the Liver Building in Liverpool.^[13]

In his remarks at the HMD UK national ceremony on 27 January 2025, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who had also recently visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, said:

In Auschwitz, I saw photographs of Nazi guards standing with Jewish prisoners staring at the camera—completely indifferent—and in one case, even smiling. It showed more powerfully than ever how the Holocaust was a collective endeavour by thousands of ordinary individuals utterly consumed by the hatred of difference.

And that is the hatred we stand against today, and it is a collective endeavour for all of us to defeat it.^[14]

He also pledged his government’s support for a Holocaust memorial and learning centre, and said that Holocaust education would become a “national endeavour”:

We start by remembering the six million Jewish victims and by defending the truth against anyone who would deny it. So we will have a national Holocaust memorial and learning centre to speak this truth for eternity.

But as we remember, we must also act. Because we say never again, but where was never again in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, or the acts of genocide against Yazidi.

Today, we have to make those words mean more. So we will make Holocaust education a truly national endeavour.^[15]

The UK government also provided additional funding of £80,000 to commemorate HMD 2025, in addition to an annual grant of £900,000 given to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which is provided for the annual ceremony and to support local activities.^[16]

During the debate in the House of Commons on 23 January 2025 to mark HMD, Minister for Housing and Planning Matthew Pennycook noted the UK’s presidency of the IHRA:

The UK took on the presidency of the IHRA in 2024, with the world on the cusp of significant change in Holocaust remembrance. Within a few short years, Holocaust survivors will move from contemporary memory into history books. How we remember is a matter of debate, but different views coalesce around three headings: landscape, archives—including testimony—and objects. Our presidency has successfully strengthened all three under the general title of “In plain sight”. This title is a reminder that the Holocaust did not happen in dark corners but in broad daylight. Jewish men, women and children suffered persecution in the full view of their neighbours—indeed, often by their neighbours. Laws discriminating against Jews and depriving them of rights and property were passed openly by legislatures. The attempted destruction of the Jewish people and their culture was not conducted in secret, but brazenly and openly.^[17]

He noted various activities which had taken place under the UK’s presidency both internationally and in the UK. The minister also spoke to the issue of Holocaust denialism:

Eighty years after the Holocaust, we sadly still contend with Holocaust denial. Some forms of denial are less common, and in some states it is now illegal and punishable under the law, but the forms that Holocaust denial can take are ever-changing. It once referred to those who claimed that 6 million Jews were not murdered, and that there were no gas chambers whatsoever; today, these outright deniers are few and mostly relegated to the fringe. The problems we face today are more complex and more subtle, and are often nuanced and difficult to identify. However, that does not render them less dangerous, or the need to challenge them less compelling. After all, we are living in an age when facts are routinely disputed, and disinformation and misinformation are rampant. This presents a real and present danger for Holocaust education, remembrance and research.^[18]

Speaking for the Conservative Party, Kevin Hollinrake, shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, said this year’s theme “encourages us to reflect on the lessons of history and on the steps we must take to ensure that such atrocities never happen again”.^[19] He also called for action to “stamp out the evil that is antisemitism”. Vikki Slade, housing, communities and local government spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, made similar remarks, contending that we must “speak up against Holocaust and genocide denial and distortion”.^[20]

4. Read more

• Debate on ‘Holocaust Memorial Day [2024]’, HL Hansard, 2 February 2024, cols 1379–440; and House of Lords Library, ‘Holocaust Memorial Day 2024’, 26 January 2024
• Debate on ‘Holocaust Memorial Day [2025]’, HC Hansard, 23 January 2025, cols 1155–205; and House of Commons Library, ‘General debate on Holocaust Memorial Day 2025’, 21 January 2025
• Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, ‘Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: Home page’, accessed 3 February 2025

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Cover image by photoangel on Freepik.