Each year on 27 January, communities across the world stand together to mark Holocaust Memorial Day — a day of remembrance for the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust, and the millions more who were targeted and killed under Nazi persecution, as well as in genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Holocaust Memorial Day is a moment to pause, to reflect, and to recommit ourselves to understanding the depths of human suffering caused by hatred and prejudice.
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 is “Bridging Generations” which is a powerful call-to-action. It reminds us that the responsibility of remembrance does not rest solely with those who survived these atrocities. It lives on through their children, their grandchildren, and through all of us. In the years ahead, as firsthand witnesses are fewer, our collective work is to listen deeply, learn honestly, and to carry these lessons forward with integrity.
This theme is important because memory is not just about recalling facts. It is about connecting the human threads that bind one era to the next. As time stretches the distance between us and the events of the Holocaust and later genocides, remembrance can become abstract, blurry, or—even worse—contested. Bridging generations calls us to keep those stories alive with reverence and care, through testimony, education, art, community and dialogue.
For cultures and spiritual communities alike, this work echoes our dedication to bearing witness, and not only to what has already happened, but to what might happen again if we fail to recognise hatred in its earliest forms. It asks each of us to be part of a living memory: to engage with the past so that its lessons shape how we act today.
Remembrance takes many forms. Lighting a candle at home or in community spaces, participating in local or national memorial events, sharing stories across generations — all of these acts create bridges between history and hope. They remind us that every life has a story worth telling, and that the erosion of any group’s dignity diminishes us all.
But, Holocaust Memorial Day isn’t only about remembering what was lost. It’s about strengthening what we carry forward in everyday acts of compassion, creating justice, and a fierce commitment to stand against prejudice in all its forms.
As Pagans, and as human beings, this theme resonates deeply with our paths of remembrance, stewardship, and interconnectedness. Bridging generations honours both personal and collective memory, urging us to listen to elders, to support younger voices, and to hold space for stories that resist erasure. It is a reminder that remembrance is not passive, but active. It is woven through how we educate, how we bear witness, and how we heal.
On 27 January and beyond, let us recommit to remembering with intention, to learning with humility, and to living in a way that honours the truth of history and works towards the promise of a more compassionate future.
Sarah Kerr
Pagan Federation President
Contact Sarah here