Holocaust Memorial Day has been marked across the Diocese of Leeds.
Holocaust Memorial Day, held on Monday, January 27, looks to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, as well as commemorating the millions more people murdered through the Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the more recent genocides recognised by the UK government, and the genocide in Darfur.
Holocaust Memorial Day in 2025 marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.
On Sunday, January 26, Bradford Cathedral held a special Choral Evensong, remembering the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides.
On Holocaust Memorial Day people at Ripon Cathedral stood together with folk from the Harrogate Hebrew Congregation at a service attended by civic dignitaries, including the Deputy Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Mr Richard Compton, representing His Majesty The King.
School children from four of the region’s schools (Moorside Ripon, Outwood Academy Ripon, Ripon Cathedral School and Brackenfield School, Harrogate) also attended, with pupils helping to lead prayers and light candles.
Six candles on the altar each represented one of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
The Yorkshire Decibelles helped lead the worship at the service.
The service was led by the Very Revd John Dobson, Dean of Ripon, who said: “It is a privilege and humbling to stand together with our friends from the Harrogate Hebrew Congregation on this significant day as we bring to mind the unimaginable acts of evil designed to eliminate the Jewish people and people on the fringes of society.
“We do not do this to exercise our capacity for imagination but to learn from the horrors of the past, to help us shape the present, giving hope for the future.”