Equality South West is encouraging people in the region to learn the lessons from the past by marking Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, January 27.
The annual event gives people an opportunity to reflect on Nazi persecutions and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur in order to challenge hatred and persecution in the UK today.
ESW chair Liz Payne-Ahmadi will be attending a special commemoration in Taunton on Monday lunchtime to mark the event.
She said: “Things that are happening around the world and in our own country and in the communities in which we live show that it is as important as ever to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
“The day itself, January 27, has been chosen because on that day in 1945 Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army. At the gatherings we hold on or near that day across our region, we remember all the victims of Nazi fascism and of genocides and hatred since that time.
“It is crucial that we never forget the dreadful things that have happened, still within the living memory of some. The theme this year is ‘Build a Bridge’ and we are determined to build bridges with the past, so that we can learn from it, and with each other in the present, so that together we can recognise and challenge divisiveness, discrimination and oppression in all its forms.
“Most importantly, however, we must build bridges to the future, so that our actions today will mean that generations to come can cross safely to a world in which peace and justice prevail.”
To find events taking place in the South West, click on http://hmd.org.uk/events/find/south-west
