Holocaust survivors told their story - we should all listen

The Holocaust - the Nazi's 'Final Solution' to the Jewish question - and the concentration camps, were designed to remove humanity, to reduce the victims to the level of animals, before wiping out a whole race.

By remembering the victims and paying our respects, we can help them rise them above that, we can reclaim their humanity for them in a small way.

The phrase 'bear witness' is important; it was one that many survivors used as their motivation to get through the ordeal.

They wanted to survive to tell the story of what was happening to them. They told their story and we should continue to listen. We need to remember what happened to innocent men, women and children, Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, homosexuals, Poles and others, purely because of their race, religion or beliefs.

Last year I travelled to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp near Krakow in Poland, along with 200 school children from the North East.

The first thing that hits you when you enter the place is the size of the camp.

Wooden huts stretch as far as the eye can see, with guard towers, fences and ditches making escape almost impossible.

At the end of the train tracks leading into the camp families would be split up, never to see each other again. Fathers holding sons hands, mothers with daughters, most would be dead within minutes of arriving, the rest would be put to work and forced to live in horrendous conditions. The vast majority perished within months of arrival through disease, malnourishment or simply exhaustion.

What was interesting about the trip was to see the impact it had on the pupils.

I had the task of interviewing several afterwards. Their words were very thoughtful, moving and keenly felt. They had been touched by what they had seen and none of them will ever forget it. They learned what humanity is capable of if we give in to racism, hatred and intolerance and that is a vital lesson.

When I landed at Newcastle Airport after the trip, my taxi driver said: "That seems like a funny place to take children."

I remained silent at the time but I disagreed with him then and still do. As many people as possible should go to see the depths of what we human beings are capable. Karen Pollack, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, which organises trips to Auschwitz says: "Holocaust Memorial Day and Holocaust education are more important now than ever and this year's topic, "Stand Up to Hatred" highlights the importance of joining forces against hatred, prejudice and intolerance.

"At the Holocaust Educational Trust we endeavour to impart the history of the Holocaust to young people, across all communities so they can see where hate and racism can ultimately lead."

The holocaust was not just an ordinary war crime, this was a unique event in the history of man. Never before had so many people from one group of society been killed by another, purely because of their race. Modern technology enabled thousands of lives to be ended in mere minutes. That technology has only been made more effective in the past 60 odd years.

Six million Jews died, not just a statistic but six million people with families and with lives cruelly ended. In total it is believed around 11 million perished in the death camps.

This was a period in history when humanity failed on a huge level. But it wasn't a sudden shift, it had been building up for years and was the culmination of a decade of madness.

One of the main driving forces which drove Hitler and other fascist Governments to power in Europe was the Great Depression. As we enter a period of huge financial uncertainty, possibly as great as 1929, but hopefully not, we must ensure that scapegoats, immigrants for example, are not found for our problems.

Some may say we live in more enlightened times but when pediatricians can be attacked because a mob thinks they are paedophiles I'm not so sure.

The Holocaust was the lowest point in the history of man.

Maybe the time will come to forget the Holocaust but it is not now.

This is a day that needs to be remembered for our past and for our future, because if we forget it now we may be forced to remember it more vividly than we would wish.