COMMUNITY groups, faith leaders, school children and elected representatives from across Wirral remembered victims of the Holocaust and other genocides during a special event at Tranmere Rovers' home ground.

Organised by Neil Sledge, from Remembering Srebrenica UK, the event at Prenton Park on Friday (January 26) was part of mark Holocaust Memorial Day. 

The commemoration featured poetry readings by children from Christchurch CE Primary School in Birkenhead and Everton Free School.

There was also an address by Lemmy Ross, Junior President of Merseyside Jewish Representative Council.

Other speakers included Tranmere Rovers Chairman, Mark Palios, Alison McGovern MP, and Louise Ellis from the Wirral Minority Ethnic Achievement Service (MEAS).

At the end of the commemoration a memorial candle was lit and a minute’s silence was observed by all those present.

Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations take place on or around January 27 every year as the date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The theme of this year’s commemoration, Fragility of Freedom, encourages people to reflect on the subtle ways in which freedom can be eroded over time and highlights the ways in which perpetrators target individuals, communities, and means of expression, to prevent challenge and dissent. It also reminds us that freedom cannot be taken for granted.

Wirral's Mayor, Councillor Jerry Williams, said: "It is often said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, so it is so important that we – and future generations – continue to remember the victims of Nazi persecution and all of those who suffered during subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda and in Srebrenica.

Chair of Remembering Srebrenica NW, Neil Sledge, said: "Genocide doesn’t start with mass extermination; it starts in local communities.

"It spreads with fear and ignorance, and with mistruths being taken-up by people in positions of power.

"So, it is important for communities to come together to remember, and to learn and understand how prejudice, ignorance and hate can spread and escalate to something much worse."