BY JACK WELCH

THE commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is a unique national event compared to the many other dates of significance throughout the year.

Although it is not an occasion to celebrate, it is important that the purpose of the day helps enable younger generations to benefit from the lessons of how those in the past could make such inhumane decisions.

January 27, which in 1945 marked the liberation of Auschwitz and subsequently is the date for the annual HMD, helps bring young people closer together with survivors across a number of recognised genocides, including the Holocaust, and to prevent the risk of falling into the trap of history and repeating the same errors as before.

This year alone will see over 3,600 events take place across the UK, including in Weymouth and Dorchester, providing many opportunities for people of all ages to listen to survivor stories, visit art exhibitions and stage performances.

This just goes to show how tragedies which took place over 70 years ago can remain in the public consciousness today.

For me to attend this week’s national ceremony in London, with a small role in the programme, was a tremendous honour and recognition of young people who are learning from the past.

While I consider myself to be in a very fortunate position to have visited the sites in Auschwitz and Srebrenica of the Bosnian genocide, a recent report by the Education Committee concluded that the quality of teaching in schools overall needs to be improved.

This is in respect of teacher training and also being able to extend its significance beyond the History curriculum into other subjects.

The HMD 2016 theme ‘Don’t Stand By’ is a perfect example of highlighting current issues in society like LGBT, race and disability discrimination, which can be traced back to the Nazi administration, when people would never speak out against the treatment of others simply because of who they were.

With historical teaching playing one role, so too can learning how we perceive and treat others in order to avoid going down the deadly paths of the past.