A woman from Borth whose grandfather was murdered in Auschwitz during the Second World War says marking Holocaust Memorial Day is as important as ever in 2022 following recent incidents of anti-semitism at home and abroad.

Jackie Bat-Isha is asking people to support this year’s event by watching the online ceremony on the Holocaust Memorial Day website and safely lighting a candle in their window at 8pm on Thursday 27 January.

Ceredigion County Council will also be illuminating Aberystwyth Castle, bandstand and Town Hall building in purple for the event to honour and remember those who died.

“Sadly, antisemitism is still very much in evidence in this country and many other countries,” said Jackie.

“Here in Aberystwyth we have had incidents of anti-semitic graffiti and most synagogues in Britain have to be safely guarded. Last week in Texas, four people participating in Saturday prayers were held at gunpoint for many hours.”

The theme of this year’s Holocuast Memorial Day is ‘One Day’ and for the second year due to the pandemic, the annual ceremony in the UK will be online at www.hmd.org.uk.

“People are being urged to choose one day to remember and to learn about The Holocaust, Nazi persecution and the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darefur. It could for example be 19 April 1943 when the Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto fought back against the Nazi Regime, or 12 July 1995 when the Bosnian Serb troops descended on Sebrenica and began murdering 8,000 men and boys,” said Jackie.

“One Day is a snapshot of time. One Day for me is 9 September 1942 when my grandfather, Leib Nussbaum, was sent on Convoi No 30 from Drancy, a holding camp near Paris, to Auschwitz. There were 1,000 people on the convoy and he and 900 others were gassed on arrival.”

Speaking ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, Ceredigion County Council leader, Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn, said: "Ceredigion County Council Leader, Councillor Ellen Ap Gwynn, said: “On Holocaust Memorial Day let us all take the opportunity to pause, reflect and learn lessons from the past and apply them to the present day to create a safer and better future for everyone.”

A 40-minute film on the life of Leib Nussbaum is available on YouTube.

The film is based on an exhibition entitled ’Follow the Footsteps of Leib Nussbaum’, which was held in the Morlan Centre in January 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The film can be viewed below.