holocaust memorial day

One person who did turn up was Liverpool-born Hollywood star Jason Isaacs who flew in specially from the States for the event.
He later told me he'd "instantly" said yes when he was asked to take part in the commemoration.

During the event he spoke about his own personal circumstances - how his great-grandparents had fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe and had been welcomed to their new home, Liverpool.
The city's capacity to embrace the dispossessed and the needy was a recurrent theme of the afternoon, with other refugees and victims of genocide telling a similar story.
There were some beautiful performances by the RLPO, whose numbers dwindled symbolically as we were told about the restrictions on Jewish musicians being allowed to play their trade.

The hugely talented Jonathan Aasgaard also performed a haunting solo cello piece.
And there was also the story of the "Romeo ad Juliet" of Sarajevo, the young couple who were killed trying to escape the 1993 siege and whose bodies lay together in full view of the world for days because no one was big enough, or had enough humanity in them, to call a ceasefire to rescue their bodies.

The event was scheduled to last 90 minutes, but ran on half-an-hour over time. I wasn't sure how that could have happened. But for whatever reason things went over time, it meant the Archbishop of Canterbury - who spoke alongside Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sachs - had to vanish as he was due to preach at the Metropolitan Cathedral at 5pm.
Afterwards everyone came out into Hope Street and signed a giant canvas, making their statement against genocide.
Meanwhile I hear the moving RESPECTacles exhibition at Liverpool Town Hall ended up with 120,000 pairs of glasses, which is fantastic.
It was only on for a week. What a shame it can't be put on show somewhere more permanently.