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Holocaust Memorial Day 2016: The region remembers

On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by Red Army soldiers. And 71 years later, people across the Black Country and Staffordshire have come together to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.

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Poignant events have taken place throughout the region as part of an international day of remembrance for the millions killed in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

The theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day is 'Don't Stand By' - a reference to the bystanders whose indifference allowed horrific crimes such as the Holocaust to take place.

In Wolverhampton, a crowd gathered at St Peter's Square for a service led by mayor Ian Brookfield at the city's cenotaph, while Sandwell Council held its own service at Highfields Memorial Garden on Sunday.

Schools, colleges and universities marked the occasion with special events and assemblies.

Pupils at Joseph Leckie Academy in Walsall were given a moving talk by Holocaust survivor Mindu Hornick, while students at Staffordshire University made pledges not to stand by, as part of the 2016 theme.

The memorial service at St Peter's Square in Wolverhampton

More than 3,000 such events are happening around the UK, in the 15th year of Holocaust Memorial Day.

The event was first held in the UK in 2001, after the Government signed a United Nations commitment to formally commemorate the Nazi genocide with 45 other countries.

And today David Cameron announced that a new permanent Holocaust memorial would be built next to the Houses of Parliament in Victoria Tower Gardens.

The January 27 memorial date is significant as it is the same date that the Nazi's biggest and most infamous concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945.

More than one million people are believed to have died at the camp in south Poland, which began as a detention centre for political prisoners but became a venue with the sole purpose of death.

While Holocaust Memorial Day is timed with Auschwitz's liberation, the day pays tribute to the victims of all genocides, including Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

UK organisers use the event as an opportunity to combat discrimination and persecution, as well as to remember.

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