On this Holocaust Memorial Day, a time for remembering and mourning, I feel deeply conscious of how important it is to focus on life.

As Jews we think first and foremost of the Nazi Holocaust; it touches very many of us personally. I only have to think of what my family might have been, had both my parents not had to flee Germany in their teens, had their relatives not been uprooted, and had so many of them not been murdered.

We are mindful also of the genocidal attacks by the powerful against minorities across the world and through the decades since, including the brutal persecution of the Uyghur People today. We must always stand up and speak out against such bigotry and savagery.

Humanity has proved itself capable of the most merciless cunning and heartless cruelty so often and on such a scale that it shames us as a species.

Therefore, now as much as ever, we must turn to life and do our utmost to support one another, across all faiths and nationalities, to live at peace with each other and in harmony with nature.

Those who perished would have longed to live out their days and enjoy the gift of life, of which they were so brutally robbed.

In their memory, may we dedicate ourselves to life.