A Holocaust survivor will speak at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) next Wednesday as part of the commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Jan Imich, from Krakow in Poland, was nine when he was arrested, separated from his family and imprisoned in a succession of concentration camps. He was reunited with his father in the UK after the war.
The Holocaust Memorial Day event, which has been organised by the IWM and Southwark Council, will take place on January 27. As well as the talk by Mr Imich, it will also involve a performance by poet and council employee Suley Muhidin, a harpist performance and a wreath-laying at the Soviet War Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial Tree.
The Mayor of Southwark, Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle MBE, who will be in attendance, said: “This is our annual opportunity to stand together in remembrance of all those who lost their lives in the most brutal of ways. The Holocaust and other genocides serve as a permanent reminder of the darkest deeds we are capable of as human beings.
“Our gathering on January 27 will therefore send out a timely message that ending discrimination and the hatred of difference is not the sole responsibility of the few, but the shared duty of us all.”
Anyone wishing to attend can RSVP by calling 020 7525 7303 or emailing mayors.office@southwark.gov.uk.