Holocaust Memorial Day 2023: Guernsey service to be held

The service on 26 January will be open to all islanders

Holocaust Memorial Day will be marked in Guernsey with a commemorative gathering on 26 January.

People will be invited to remember the victims of the Holocaust and other acts of genocide.

Led by the Dean of Guernsey, the Very Reverend Tim Barker, the gathering will be held at 18:00 GMT in the Town Church, in St Peter Port.

Dean Barker said the observance of Holocaust Memorial Day was "important for the whole community".

Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated in the British Isles on 27 January.

Further commemorations planned

However, as that date is a Friday in 2023, the gathering will be on the Thursday evening so as not to conflict with the Shabbat - the weekly observance for Jews, which starts at sunset on Fridays.

Wreaths will be dedicated and laid at the memorials on the White Rock to the three Jewish women who died in the holocaust after being deported from the island, to the Guernsey Eight, and to foreign workers at 12:00 GMT on 27 January.

Dean Barker said commemorations this year would also include a separate public gathering at 12:00 GMT on the White Rock on 18 April, coinciding with the date in 2023 when Jewish people throughout the world keep Yom HaShoah.

The Committee for Education, Sport and Culture and the Arts Commission have collaborated with the Guernsey Music Centre and Elizabeth College to produce a commemorative performance of poetry and music.

Tim Wright, head of Guernsey Music Service, said it was an honour to yet again be included in the Holocaust Memorial Service.

During the event, Molly Robinson will play Vocalise by Rachmaninov on the cello.

Rachmaninov composed Vocalise in 1915 before fleeing persecution after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

During his life, Rachmaninov was a supporter of freedom and human rights. In 1912, he left the Imperial Russian Music Society when he learned that a musician in an administrative post was dismissed for being Jewish.

He fled Russia at the end of 1917 and eventually settled in America.

Jonathon Vickers, senior prefect of Elizabeth College, will be reading some poems chosen to help those present reflect on the significance of the day.

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