THREE people will be the focus of the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust memorial events.

Holocaust Memorial Day is marked on January 27 – the date of the liberation of Auschwitz.

There will be a short act of remembrance at 2pm on January 27 at the memorial in Bournemouth’s Central Gardens, near the Cenotaph, followed by a walk to the Anne Frank tree close by.

This year, the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day Committee is dedicating its commemorative events to the memories of three local people, Otto Hutter and Walter and Herta Kammerling, who were all three rescued by the Kindertransport - British organised trains to transport Jews in Nazi-occupied areas to safety.

Between them, they have told their stories of survival to thousands of people all over the UK and abroad. All three died recently.

At Sunday’s event, Walter and Herta’s son Peter will be telling his parents’ story of survival in his presentation ‘Two survivor stories: Mum and Dad’.

Peter said: “I am delighted to be given the opportunity of telling both my parents’ stories at an event such as this. They are important stories, and they need to be told."

The theme taken for this year’s event will be ‘one day’, giving as an example Paul Coelho’s “One Day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted”.

Lynda Ford-Horne, the chair of the committee, said: “This year we are dedicating our events to the memory of three Holocaust survivors who, by telling their stories, have helped educate and continue to help educate future generations.

“Today we can look around the world and recognise these ‘one days’, when decisions and actions change people’s lives in devastating ways.

“Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity for everyone to stop and think about the past; if we can learn the powerful lessons it can teach, we can step forward into the next ‘one day’ with a better understanding.’

The Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Day Committee’s annual Act of Commemoration will be on Sunday January 23 between 2pm and 4pm. The live event is accessible for free online via Zoom. Visit the committee’s Facebook event for more information.