Today (27 January) is Holocaust Memorial Day and this year we’re commemorating the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In 2018, I had the great pleasure of meeting two survivors of this horrific war who kindly shared with me their stories of having to leave their families as children, sent away for their own safety.

I’ve also had the deep privilege of visiting Auschwitz with the Holocaust Education Trust. An experience that will never leave me.

I’ve recently been contacted by another constituent who shared with me his families’ experiences of the Holocaust.

His great, great grandparents were born and raised in Berlin. They had lived in Berlin peacefully for over 60 years and had a son. They built a life in Berlin; he worked as a timber trader, and they had decided to raise their family there.

When the Second World War broke out, they had a decision to make. Do they stay in the home that they’d worked all their lives to build, or do they flee, with only the things that they could carry – leaving their home, family, and friends behind.

My constituent’s great, great grandparents decided to stay. They were nearly in their 60’s and the thought of leaving everything behind was terrifying. They thought that staying would be the best option for them, and things couldn’t be that bad.

Their son, who was now in his 30’s decided to flee. He thought that if he got out, he could send for his wife and parents at a later date. His family believe that he must have travelled from Berlin to Holland by train and then got on a boat from there to London, where he was put in a Richmond refugee camp in 1939.

From there he sent for his wife, but his parents didn’t leave.

In July 1942 my constituent’s great, great grandparents were rounded up and deported to Theresienstadt, where they were held there for almost a month. On the 19 September 1942 they were murdered in Treblinka.

This is a harrowing story and to hear it relayed to you is as shocking today as it is every year we remember the holocaust. They should never be forgotten. Only because of the courage of the remaining survivors and their families sharing these stories, can we work to ensure history is never repeated.