Holocaust Memorial Day is opportunity to end to discrimination, says TUC

date: 25 January 2012

embargo: 00.01hrs Friday 27 January 2012

The TUC is calling for an end to discrimination and prejudice on Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) today (Friday).

HMD is held on the 27 January every year - on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 1.6 million men, women and children were killed in the Holocaust.

The day aims to remind people of the crimes, racism and loss of life during the Holocaust in World War II and prevent it ever being forgotten or repeated. It also remembers more recent genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur, and has been held annually in the UK since 2001.

Alongside the six million Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, hundreds of thousands of others were targeted by Hitler's regime - including union members, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people (LGBT), disabled people, and people attacked simply for their race.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Unions have always stood up to the kind of discrimination, prejudice and hatred that led to the Nazi Holocaust.

'LGBT people were among the millions of victims of Hitler's brutal regime, and today LGBT communities are a vital part of the resistance to modern versions of this hatred.'

LGBT representatives from the TUC will be taking part in the national commemoration event in London.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- For more information please visit www.hmd.org.uk

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk