Holocaust memorial day

Today is the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp of WWII and an international day of remembrance of the Holocaust. At a ceremony in Newcastle, UK, where the six million Jews who were murdered were remembered:

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks called on people to remember the other victims of the Holocaust, including gay people, gypsies, the mentally handicapped and the physically disabled.

He emphasised this year's theme of The Dignity of Difference, saying: "At the heart of evil is dislike of the unlike, the fear of difference, the belief that because you are not like me you are a threat to me. Fear becomes hate and hate begets violence and violence turns to murder and murder becomes the attempted annihilation of a whole group.

"The great human challenge is to honour what we have in common while respecting what makes us different because if we had nothing in common we would be unable to communicate, and if we had everything in common we would have nothing to say. If we do not learn the lessons of the past then I fear for our future."