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Friday 27 Jan 2023

Network Rail and Great Western Railway ‘Light the Darkness’ to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Paddington station will be bathed in purple light by Network Rail and Great Western Railway (GWR) this Friday, in a moment of remembrance for Holocaust Memorial Day.

As part of Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s campaign to ‘Light the Darkness’, the London station, along with those at Reading and Bristol Temple Meads, will be illuminated at 4:00pm to allow rail travellers and colleagues the opportunity to share in the national moment of quiet reflection.

The illuminated stations will join dozens of other landmarks across the country, including The London Eye, Magdalen College Tower in Oxford, Exeter Guildhall and Cardiff Castle.

GWR will also display the official Holocaust Memorial Day candle on the following station screens across the Great Western network:

• Bristol Parkway
• Didcot Parkway
• Exeter St Davids
• Gloucester
• Maidenhead
• Oxford
• Plymouth
• Reading
• Slough
• Swindon
• Taunton
• Westbury

Households have been encouraged to light candles and safely put them in their windows to remember those who were murdered for who they were and stand against prejudice and hatred today.

This year, the moment is being marked at 4:00pm rather than 8:00pm to ensure the Jewish community can also observe Shabbat, the Jewish Day of Rest.

Holocaust Memorial Day is marked each year on 27 January. It is the international day to remember the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution of other groups and during more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.

People can become part of the conversation about ‘Light the Darkness’ online by sharing a photo of their candle and tagging Holocaust Memorial Day Trust on Twitter (@HMD_UK), Facebook (HMD.UK) or Instagram (@holocaustmemorialdaytrust), and by using the hashtags #HolocaustMemorialDay and #LightTheDarkness.

Network Rail’s head of passenger strategy, Susan Evans said:  “We’ve worked with GWR and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to support this year’s national day of reflection and hope that our purple lights will help people take a quiet moment to remember the millions of victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides around the world.

“It’s important to mark this day, which serves as both a memorial to those who lost their lives and a warning of where inaction in the face of persecution can lead.”

GWR’s head of stations, James Adeshiyan said: “GWR is proud to work with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and Network Rail to allow customers and colleagues across our network to take part in this national moment of reflection at 4pm on Friday.

“We hope that by having our stations and screens illuminated in this way, it allows people travelling and working with us to have a quiet moment to remember those who have lost their lives and been impacted by prejudice and hatred.”

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chief executive, Olivia Marks-Woldman OBE said: “We are delighted that Great Western Railway and Network Rail are taking part in the national 'Light the Darkness' moment for Holocaust Memorial Day. They are joining tens of thousands of others - businesses, schools, places of worship, landmarks and ordinary households - across the UK to remember and to learn from genocide for a better future.”