BROMSGROVE residents are being invited to gather and remember the Holocaust.

Several district middle and high schools and readers from all faiths will take part in a public Holocaust Memorial Day in the town.

The memorial service will take place in the Parkside Suite, at Parkside on Market Street, at 11am on Monday, January 27 and is free and open to all.

South Bromsgrove High School’s ‘South Sisters’ will be performing and visitors can enjoy refreshments after the service.

Councillor Rod Laight, chairman of Bromsgrove District Council, is hosting the event.

He said: “Everyone is welcome to join us at what is a very touching event. It is important that every year we set aside time as a community to remember and think about the tragedy and atrocity of the Holocaust, so that such a thing may never be allowed to happen again.

"It is even more important that we stand together this year as we mark 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.”

This year the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is “Stand Together”.

In the Holocaust 11 million people including six million Jews were systematically murdered in Europe between 1941-45 by the Nazis and their collaborators. It is the worst genocide in history.

For more on this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, go to hmd.org.uk.