Welcome to the Bristol Holocaust Memorial Day website
Here in Bristol, we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day with an annual civic event, held at City Hall on College Green. Our event typically includes a keynote speaker (such as a Holocaust survivor), local speakers and a range of community organisations gathering to remember the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, of Nazi persecution, and of genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur and Yazidis.
Bristol Holocaust Memorial Day 2026: Bridging Generations
Commemorating 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, along with millions of others who died under Nazi persecution & other genocides
The overall theme of the 2026 HMD is “Bridging Generations”. The Bristol commemoration will focus on inter-generational trauma as a result of The Holocaust and other genocides, with lessons for current conflicts.
Following our keynote speaker, the second part of the event will include a facilitated panel discussion with trauma experts discussing the impact of global conflicts (past and present) on current and future generations in Bristol and the South West.
Keynote Speaker:
Eric Schloss – Grandson of Eva Schloss (posthumous Stepsister of Anne Frank)
Panelists:
Judi Bauernfreund – Pyschotherapist, researcher in 2nd and 3rd Generational Holocaust Trauma & descendent of a holocaust survivor family
Katherine Cox – Psychotherapist and Director of Services, Trauma Foundation South West
Eric Schloss
Commemoration ceremony led by:
Rev Eric Aidoo – Pastor, City Road Baptist Church, Bristol.
Full Wheelchair Access, loop and BSL Interpreters
Bristol’s Holocaust Memorial Day is an entirely free event, run by volunteers and funded entirely by donations. If you would like to help maintain and grow this event, please consider donating by following this link. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/bristol-holocaust-memorial-day-2026
This year’s theme, from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, is ‘For A Better Future’. Please book your ticket in advance of the event here.
Holocaust Memorial Day not only remembers victims and survivors of the Holocaust, but also of Nazi persecution and the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. If you’re looking for reading recommendations to help you learn more about genocide awareness, please see the video for some great book ideas to get you started.
Watch the 2023 HMD event here.
Help us plan our 2026 Holocaust Memorial Day event in Bristol
The team that puts on the Bristol Holocaust Memorial Day Civic Commemoration is made up solely of volunteers, meeting roughly once a month from September to January to plan our HMD commemoration. Though we follow guidance from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, we are not funded by them, so we also need to fundraise to cover our costs.
Joining the group can give you hands-on experience of:
- Event planning.
- Fundraising.
- Publicity.
- Social media management.
- Web development.
- Project management.
- Working with local charities and community groups (we have stalls from local charities at the event), or with secondary schools and colleges.
You don’t need a personal connection to the Holocaust or to genocide victims to join the group. We welcome people of all ages, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, races, and religions (also those with no religion). We’re a friendly group, and we can’t wait to welcome new members.
To find out more, please email chair@bristolhmd.org.
Why we mark Holocaust Memorial Day in Bristol
Holocaust Memorial Day is a day for education, commemoration and reflection: to think deeply about what happened to countless individuals, and how small actions escalated to acts of organised hate crime and, ultimately, genocide.
We remember all the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, of Nazi persecution, and of subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.
We also reflect on what we need to do today, both to keep the memory alive and to build societies that resist this kind of discrimination and all forms of identity-based violence. Here in Bristol, we look at these issues throughout the year, not just in January.
Holocaust Memorial Day falls on 27th January every year, which is the date when the death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated in 1945. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 was ‘One day’. Previous themes were ‘Be the light in the darkness’ (2021), ‘Stand Together’ (2020), ‘Torn From Home’ (2019), ‘The Power Of Words’ (2018), ‘How can life go on?’ (2017), and ‘Don’t Stand By’ (2016).
We’d love to have new people join the Steering Group and help us create something bigger and better for 2023. We welcome people of all ages, backgrounds, races, sexualities, gender identities and faiths (and those with no religion). Please email us to hear more about getting involved.
Twitter/X: @BristolHMD #BristolHMD #HolocaustMemorialDay #FragilityOfFreedom