Sandwell marked Holocaust Memorial Day yesterday (Sunday) with a service in West Bromwich, where Auschwitz survivor Mindu Hornick MBE was the key speaker.
The service took place on the closest Sunday to Holocaust Memorial Day - which is today (Monday 27 January).
This year, Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was the largest Nazi concentration camp, and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia.
Mindu Hornick MBE (awarded in services to Holocaust education) spoke at Sandwell’s service on her inspiring yet heartbreaking journey as an Auschwitz and Holocaust survivor.
During the Second World War, Mindu’s father had been drafted into a forced labour battalion and, as the war continued, the rest of the family was sent to a ghetto. Then, Mindu was sent on a cattle truck bound for Auschwitz with her mother, older sister and two younger brothers. She and her sister survived as, after several months, they were selected for slave labour and sent to work in an ammunitions factory near Hamburg, but she never saw her father, mother or brothers again.
In 1948, three years after the war ended, provisions were made for Mindu to travel from Czechoslovakia to England and live with relatives in Birmingham. After meeting her husband, her life changed for the better. They started a happy family and built a successful electrical store business together.
Now in her mid-90s, Mindu continues to create a positive legacy by sharing her experiences of extreme prejudice and discrimination to educate others and inspire hope for a more promising future.
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 is ‘For a Better Future’. This theme encourages us to explore the various ways we can all contribute to creating a more positive future by challenging prejudice. The hope is to create an opportunity for people to come together, learn about the past and more recent injustices, and act towards building a better future for us all.