Millions of people who were brutally murdered by the Nazis have been remembered by a council.

Today on Holocaust Memorial Day, Three Rivers District Council are among other local authorities and people around the world remembering the millions of Jewish people and minority groups who were victim to Nazi persecution.

January 27 marks 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, just months before the second World War ended.

Around six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis before and during the War, with other communities including BAME, religious minorities, LGBT+, political opponents and those disabled also murdered.

Victims of genocides in places including Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur are also being remembered, with today also marking the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.

The council is marking the international day by sharing stories on its social media platforms about the Holocaust and other genocides

Earlier today, Cllr Sara Bedford and Cllr Debbie Morris raised the Holocaust Memorial Day flag at Three Rivers House together with other councillors and staff.

Cllr Bedford said: “Today we commemorate the six million Jewish people who were persecuted and murdered in the Holocaust.

“But we also remember all the other people murdered by the Nazis, and those killed in genocide, or for their beliefs, politics or sexuality before and since. We also recognise the pain felt by survivors and their descendants.

“Hatred and fear have no place in any country or society. By remembering the past we can aim to create a safer future, ensuring that prejudice and the language of hatred continues to be challenged by us all standing together.”

Cllr Morris, who read from a letter her late father sent her, said she felt “privileged” to be able to share part of her family’s story.

Reading from the letter, she said: “Nanny Katten was unable to leave Germany. It was extremely difficult, before the war, to obtain entry visas so she had to go into an old age home.

“No one believed that the Germans would annihilate the Jews and even go to the extreme lengths of taking elderly Jewish people out of their old age homes and murder them. However, she was forcibly removed to the concentration camp of Therezinstadt. Her death certificate shows she died there on 18 March 1943.”