HUNDREDS of people gathered at Poole's Lighthouse Theatre this afternoon to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.

The free event, held to mark the atrocities of the Holocaust and other genocides worldwide, included a poignant address by Holocaust survivor Joanna Millan.

Joanna, whose birth name was Bela Rosenthal, was orphaned aged 18 months, when her mother contracted tuberculosis in Terezin concentration camp.

This year's commemoration had the theme 'Torn from Home'.

Joanna, who – along with other young children – was left to fend for herself in the camp told those gathered: "I've often been asked how did I survive? Well there was no-one to take me to the gas chambers.

"You see, little children had to be carried, so we were just left.

"I suppose bullets were expensive, they thought we'd die anyway.

"A lot of people say to me how on Earth was it possible to survive? I suppose we were miracle children.

"So it is really important that I speak, remembrance is so much more powerful than a statue.

"By talking about it, it sticks longer in the memory."

Symbolising the millions murdered in the Holocaust and other genocides, candles were be lit, and tributes were paid to the victims of genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur along with the millions affected by the on-going conflict in Syria.

Lynda Ford-Horne, one of the organisers, explained: "This year was particularly significant in terms of our remembrance with the anniversaries of the arrival of the Kindertransport in Britain and the mass slaughter of 70 per cent of the Tutsi in Rwanda.

"Our national history of welcoming those who come to our shores having been 'Torn from Home' is a proud tradition making us question our own responsibility as citizens."

Finishing her address, Joanna stressed: "Unfortunately, antisemitism, racism, Holocaust denial is thriving today.

"Maybe we need to rethink how we deliver our message of education.

"History gets changed, distorted.

"We have to do better, somehow. It has got to stop."

Earlier at the weekend, on Saturday at Wimborne Minster, Holocaust survivors John Fieldsend and Erica Prean also told their stories.

John escaped from Czechoslovakia on the Kindertransport and Erica left Germany with one suitcase and ten marks.

Afterwards, Queen Elizabeth School students performed a song composed in the Vilna ghetto.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill also spoke about memories of his father, who was present at the liberation of a concentration camp.

Mid-Dorset and North Poole MP Michael Tomlinson MP lit one of the candles.

Others will be lit by the two Holocaust survivors and other representatives.

Wareham Library is currently holding an interactive display, until February 1, called ‘Stories from the Displaced’.

There will be stories around the library from people affected by The Holocaust and who have been forced to leave their homes to escape conflict and persecution.