CLACTON MP Giles Watling has signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment.

Mr Watling pledged his commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust, as well as paying tribute to Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people.

Holocaust Memorial Day is marked annually on January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Mr Watling said: “Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity for people to reflect on the tragic events of the Holocaust.

“As the Holocaust moves from living history, to ‘just’ history, it becomes ever more important we take the time to remember the victims and pay tribute to the survivors.”

A ceremony will also take place on Clacton seafront on Friday, January 25, at 11am to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

As part of national events Tendring Council chairman Mark Platt will join members of the Colchester and District Jewish Community at the Sunken Rose Garden on Marine Parade West, Clacton. 

In 2007, the council planted a commemorative white rose bush at the seafront site and the following year a specially-commissioned plaque was set in the ground next to the bush.

The service will be led by Roy Fox, chairman of the Colchester Synagogue.

Residents are invited by Mr Platt to join him at the ceremony for quiet reflection.

“This event gives us the opportunity to remember all those who lived through, and those who did not, the horrific events of the Holocaust,” he said.

“We usually have people from a number of religious groups come along to pay their respects, and we hope that will happen again this year.”

Tendring Council will have a poster display remembering the Holocaust in the foyer of Clacton Town Hall from Monday, January 21, for one week.

The Government established Holocaust Memorial Day in 2000, with the first activities were held the following year.

It aims to promote awareness of how people and communities were persecuted under racial and social policy because they were different.