Holocaust Memorial Day – which is on 27 January – is being marked in Dorset, including a Holocaust Remembrance Service in Wimborne Minster on Saturday 28 January from 2-3.30pm.

There will be a short act of remembrance at 2pm on 27 January at the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day’s memorial in Bournemouth’s Central Gardens, near the Cenotaph, followed by a walk to the Anne Frank tree close by.

However, the main commemorative event on Sunday 23 January can be attended online via Zoom.

This year, the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day Committee is dedicating its commemorative events to the memories of three local people, Otto Hutter, and Walter and Herta Kammerling, who were all three rescued by the Kindertransport – British organised trains to transport Jews in Nazi-occupied areas to safety. Between them, they told their stories of survival to thousands of people all over the UK and abroad. All three died recently.

At Sunday’s event Walter and Herta’s son Peter will be telling his parents’ story of survival in his presentation ‘Two survivor stories: Mum and Dad’.

Walter was put on the first Kindertransport train out of Vienna and would never see his parents or one of his sisters again, all of whom perished at Auschwitz. Herta was also rescued by Kindertransport in January 1939. The couple met in England and married in 1944, moving to Bournemouth in 1957.

After dedicating much of his life to educating young people about the Holocaust, Walter was awarded a British Empire Medal for Holocaust Education.

Peter said: “I am delighted to be given the opportunity of telling both my parents’ stories at an event such as this. They are important stories, and they need to be told.”

Also speaking at the event will be diversity educator Louise Boston-Mammah. Her presentation, titled ‘Black History and the Holocaust’, will bring to light the suffering of people of colour during the Holocaust, one of the groups of ‘forgotten victims’ of the atrocities.

The theme taken for this year’s event will be ‘One Day’, and The Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day Committee is inviting attendees to consider their own statement starting with ‘One day…’, giving as an example Paul Coelho’s “One Day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” Those statements will be collated as part of the commemorative acts.

Lynda Ford-Horne, the chairman of the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day committee, said: “This year we are dedicating our events to the memory of three Holocaust survivors who, by telling their stories, have helped educate and continue to help educate future generations.

“There were many ‘one days’ when their lives changed: 30 January1933, when Hitler became Chancellor; 2 August 1934, when he declared himself Fuhrer; Kristallnacht on 9-10 November 1938, when the Nazis attacked Jewish citizens and businesses; and, for Otto and Walter, 10 December 1938 – the day they were put on a Kindertransport train by their parents to escape to the UK.

“Today we can look around the world and recognise these ‘one days’, when decisions and actions change people’s lives in devastating ways. Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity for everyone to stop and think about the past; if we can learn the powerful lessons it can teach, we can step forward into the next ‘one day’ with a better understanding.”

The Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day Committee’s annual Act of Commemoration will be on Sunday 23 January between 2pm-4pm. The live event is accessible for free online via Zoom. Book on Eventbrite at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holocaust-memorial-day-2022-commemoration-event-tickets-216152657417?fbclid=IwAR0ofiHZL6xqdmH0U0zetCLEe7-eXylYbWaTAcGbkuApfTwfeBd_u7YcO30

In addition Dorchester Town Council and the South West Dorset Multicultural Network, with the support of Dorset Council, have been working with the local community, Kushti Bok, and several Dorset schools to create a short film made by Pageant Productions, to reflect on this year’s theme ‘One Day’.

The film will show many contributors, including the Mayor of Dorchester, Cllr Gareth Jones, the chairman of Dorset Council, Cllr Val Pothecary, and HM Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset, Mr Angus Campbell, lighting candles to represent lighting the darkness.

Cllr Val Pothecary, chairman of Dorset Council, said: “Holocaust Memorial Day provides a stark reminder of all those who suffered and died because of their religious beliefs or cultural differences. We must never underestimate the potential of man’s inhumanity to man and the need to ensure that intolerance is replaced with wisdom and compassion.”

The film is under half an hour long, and people are invited to watch it, either on the day or at a time that suits them.

To view the film on the 27 January, you can either watch it on the Dorchester Town Council Facebook (www.facebook.com/dorchestertowncouncil) page at midday, or watch it at any time from the 27 January on the Dorchester Town Council website (dorchester-tc.gov.uk), or the South-West Dorset Multicultural Network website (www.southwestdorsetmulticulturalnetwork.org.uk).

If you’d like to learn more about this year’s theme the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has a range of resources including life stories, recommendations for book clubs, poetry and short films. And they will also be live streaming The UK Ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 online on Thursday 27 January at 7pm – to register for a free ticket, please visit their website.