Letter: Today we must not only reflect on the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis, but also remember the modern genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur

In 1945, the 27th of January was the day that the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp complex was liberated.

The day is now known as Holocaust Memorial Day.Today we must all reaffirm our responsibility to never forget.

Time cannot erase the atrocities, nor will it bring solace to the survivors.

The inconceivable crimes of the past can only spur us on to constantly renew our resolve to never allow these horrors to happen again.We must not stop speaking about the holocaust.

We must not forget the sheer horror of what was done in that period. It is our duty and our responsibility to tell our children what happened, who then in turn can tell the next generation that follows them.

As time passes, there are fewer survivors. We must cherish them while we can. The responsibility becomes even greater for all of us to preserve the memory.

No matter how painful, the lessons of the past must be learnt for the future.Today, a battle is being fought over values, a battle that has not been won yet, and which may never be won for good, but we must try, we must never give up.Today we must not only pause and reflect on the six million Jews who were persecuted and murdered at the hands of the Nazi regime, but we must also remember all those murdered during modern genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.If we have faith, we will succeed. If we hold tight to our dreams, our actions will be blessed.

If we can grit our teeth, bite our lips, hold back the pain, and overcome obstacles we will reach our destination.

Even if there are difficult moments, they will never be as difficult as others in the past.

To quote Ann Frank:

‘How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world’.

Lorna Smyth, Conlig