February 9, 2001 10:10: Occasionally something happens in history that is so shocking and brutal that its images are never forgotten.

One such event is the Holocaust the massacre of six million Jews, half a million gypsies and thousands of others by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Its an atrocity made even more appalling by film footage, and the fact that in the historical time scale it occurred only yesterday.

British soldiers helped to liberate the Nazi concentration camps only 56 years ago and many survivors have had to live with the horrors of their experiences in camps such as Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

On Saturday, January 27, Britain held its first Holocaust memorial day to commemorate and remember those who perished in an event which has been called a crisis for European civilisation and a universal catastrophe for humanity.

Readings

A ceremony at Londons Westminster Central Hall was attended by dignitaries including Prime Minister Tony Blair and chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, featuring readings, music and video footage.

Events were held in most boroughs to mark the occasion, including a memorial service and candlelit vigil on Wandsworth Common with the planting of a special tree to mark the day.

Nightingale House in Balham, the biggest Jewish care home in the United Kingdom, held a service featuring music composed in the camps as well as a reading by survivor Helen Goldman.

A spokesman for the home said: The service went extremely well. We had music that was written in one of the camps and they were very moving pieces. We felt we had to do something to mark the day as it was extremely important.

Pupils from Rowan High School in Merton were among students from three schools in England to take part in a candle-lighting ceremony during the service.

Film footage was played including the recollections of many camp survivors as well as a famous piece of news footage on the liberation of Belsen.

Assistant head teacher David Grant said: The lessons of the Holocaust can serve the children well with a view to building a better society.

There is a responsibility to educate young people about the message of the Holocaust to go further for future generations.

Mr Grant said that many pupils were affected by the experience.

He said: The pupils were moved by the ceremony and moved as well by the recollections of the survivors.

They were able to make connections with recent events such as Bosnia. It was quite emotional.

The Kingston and Surbiton District Synagogue held its own memorial service with prayers read by Cantor David Apsel.

Kingstons Rabbi Stanley Coten, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor, said that it was important not to forget the atrocities.

He said: I think it gives the opportunity to stop and think about what happened in the past and learn from it, so that nothing like this will happen in the future.

Violence

Unfortunately we have a propensity for violence and we have got to keep it in check.

The memorial day is something that the Jewish community has been pushing for which Tony Blair and the Government took up.

He added: My mother was a survivor from the concentration camps but she doesnt talk a lot about it. The memories are with survivors every day and some cope better than others.

In the decades following the Second World War the Holocaust was rarely discussed so the importance of this first memorial day must not be underestimated.

Events such as this can play a part in educating all ages in the virtue of tolerance and the dangers of anti-semitism and racism which can sadly still exist.

By.Paul Askew