Shropshire schoolboy lights a candle to remember the Holocaust
One of 70 specially designed candles has been lit at at a Shropshire school as part of national Holocaust Memorial Day.
South Shropshire Academy, formerly Church Stretton School, was chosen as one of the venues across the UK to host a candle-lighting ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau today.
The candle was lit by 13-year-old Peter Mould, a Year 9 pupil at the academy who is related to Holocaust survivors. He lit the candle to begin a moment of reflection honouring the survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said: "Our designer has created a beautiful candle to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
"When all 70 of their candles are lit throughout the country, it will be a poignant moment of remembrance and a time for us all to ensure we keep the memory alive."
The national memorial day is to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust under Nazi persecution during World War Two, and also in the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
It is also 20 years since the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia.
Special candles will also be lit at a national commemorative event in central London and at Auschwitz, as part of international commemorations taking place.
