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Survivors and leaders mark Holocaust Memorial Day

Survivors and world leaders are marking Holocaust Memorial Day with remembrance services and events.

It honours the six million Jewish people murdered, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution of other groups.

The day also marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, in what was then-Nazi-occupied Poland.

Set up in 1940, Auschwitz was initially intended to house Polish political prisoners – but it eventually became the largest of the Nazis’ extermination camps, where Adolf Hitler’s plan to kill all Jewish people – the “Final Solution” – was put in to practice.

About 1.1 million people were murdered there, mostly Jewish.

Here are some of the memorial events that took place during this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort light a candle at Buckingham Palace, London, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, alongside Holocaust survivor Dr Martin Stern and a survivor of the Darfur genocide, Amouna Adam

Victoria Jones / PA Media

(Above and below) King Charles III and the Queen Consort lit candles at Buckingham Palace, London, alongside Holocaust survivor Dr Martin Stern and a survivor of the Darfur genocide, Amouna Adam.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort meet with Holocaust survivor Dr Martin Stern and a survivor of the Darfur genocide, Amouna Adamlight

Victoria Jones / PA Media

Dame Joanna Lumley also met Dr Stern at Piccadilly Circus, London.

Dame Joanna Lumley handing out memorial candles at Piccadilly Circus, central London, alongside Martin Stern, a survivor of the Holocaust

Aaron Chown / PA Media

The British actress was helping to hand out memorial candles, alongside Holocaust survivor Joan Salter (below, left) and Rwandan genocide survivor Antoinette Mutabazi (below, right).

Dame Joanna Lumley hands out memorial candles at Piccadilly Circus, central London, alongside Holocaust survivor Joan Salter and Rwandan genocide survivor Antoinette Mutabazi

Aaron Chown / PA Media

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Klaus Schirdewahn, a representative of the queer community, speaks during a memorial ceremony commemorating the victims of the Holocaust at the lower house of the parliament or Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, on 27 January 2023

Michelle Tantussi / Reuters

In Berlin, Klaus Schirdewahn (above and below), a representative of the LGBTQ+ community, spoke during a memorial ceremony commemorating the victims of the Holocaust at the lower house of the parliament or Bundestag.

Klaus Schirdewahn, a representative of the queer community, speaks during a memorial ceremony commemorating the victims of the Holocaust at the lower house of the parliament or Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, on 27 January 2023

Michelle Tantussi / Reuters

Rozette Kats, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz, also spoke at the Bundestag.

Rozette Kats, 80-year-old Holocaust survivor whose parents were murdered in the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp, speaks during a memorial ceremony commemorating the victims of the Holocaust on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the lower house of the parliament or Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, on 27 January 2023

Michelle Tantussi / Reuters

The German national flag flew at half mast outside the Bundestag.

The German national flag flies at half mast outside the Bundestag on 27 January 2023

Michelle Tantussi / Reuters

Musician Carmelo Leotta played an improvisational piece on a contrabass at the Gleis 17 memorial in Berlin.

Musician Carmelo Leotta plays an improvisational piece on a contrabass at the Gleis 17 memorial in Berlin to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2023

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

The Gleis 17 memorial is located at the train platform from which the Nazis deported thousands of Berlin Jews by rail to the Auschwitz and Theresienstadt concentration camps.

A flower lies at the railway tracks at the Gleis 17 memorial on Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January 2023 in Berlin, Germany

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Michael Murphy laid flowers at the Memorial to the victims of Nazi persecution at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo.

US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Michael Murphy laid flowers at the Memorial of the victims of Nazi persecution at the Old Jewish Cemetery "Borak" in Sarajevo on 27 January 2023

Fehim Demir / EPA

A member of the guard of honour of the Serbian Army stood at attention during a memorial service at the monument of victims of the Nazi concentration camp Sajmiste, in Belgrade, Serbia.

A member of the guard of honour of the Serbian Army stood at attention during a memorial service at the monument of victims of the Nazi concentration camp Sajmiste, in Belgrade, Serbia, on 27 January 2023

Andrej Cukic / EPA

In Oswiecim, Poland, Second Gentleman of the US Douglas Emhoff (below, left) walked through the main gates of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Second Gentleman of the United States Douglas Emhoff walks through the camp's main gate at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland on 27 January 2023

Bartosz Siedlik / AFP

The husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris also laid a wreath at the “death wall”, where Nazi SS soldiers shot and killed several thousands.

In Poland, Second Gentleman of the US Douglas Emhoff laid a wreath at the so-called Death Wall at the site of the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 2023

Bartosz Siedlik / AFP

On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, visitors toured the Auschwitz II-Birkenau former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp.

General view of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, seen on the eve of the 78th anniversary of the camp liberation by the Red Army, in Oswiecim, Poland, on January 26, 2023.

Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Young visitors were also seen at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem.

Young visitors were also seen at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem on 26 January 2023

Menahem Kahana / AFP

Holocaust survivor Vera Schaufeld was photographed at her home in north London (below).

Holocaust survivor Vera Schaufeld photographed at her home in north London on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day 2023

Kirsty O’Connor / PA Media

Ms Schaufeld was born in Prague in 1930 and transported via the Kindertransport to the UK in 1939 where she lived with a family in Bury St Edmunds.

None of her family who remained in central Europe survived the war.

On Wednesday, 600 candles were laid out in the shape of the Star of David in York Minster’s Chapter House.

On Wednesday in York, England, the Reverend Canon Maggie McLean, Canon Missioner at York Minster lit one of 600 candles shaped as a Star of David on the floor of the Chapter House of York Minster on 25 January 2023

Ian Forsyth / Getty Images

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