“It’s a day with the power to touch hearts and inspire change.”
The BBC is set to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2025 and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau with a wide range of programming across TV, Radio and Online, as well as full coverage of the Auschwitz Ceremony from Poland and commemorative events across the UK. There will be coverage across BBC News and the BBC News Channel throughout the day – following the main events and providing insight, context and sharing human stories.
Tim Davie, Director-General for the BBC:
“The BBC is marking the 80th anniversary of this hugely significant moment in our history with commemorative events, powerful new documentaries and educational resources across tv, radio and online. The BBC has an important role to play in bringing people together to remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust as well as ensuring their stories are shared with future generations.”
Programmes on television include What Happened At Auschwitz. The Holocaust is a moment in history that shocked the world, but as BBC journalist and presenter Jordan Dunbar discovers, it is sadly a story that is nowadays being diluted through disinformation and cultural amnesia. In a documentary marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Jordan visits the camp in Poland and meets survivors who give new interviews about what happened at the site.
Jordan also discovers how some of those that survived the camps built new lives here in the UK, with some sent to the Lake District to recover from the horrors of their past. Plus, Jordan learns how descendants are helping to combat online denial and distortion about the true scale of the Holocaust. This programme airs on BBC One at 8.30pm on Monday (January 20th.)
Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 reflects80 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, survivors and VIPs will attend a unique commemoration to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, hosted by Reeta Chakrabarti. The Ceremony will commemorate the six million Jewish men, women and children, brutally murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust and other victims of Nazi persecution.
It will also commemorate those who were murdered in the genocide in Bosnia 30 years ago and in other more recent genocides. Through music, readings and powerful personal testimony, the victims of these appalling events will be remembered. Among those taking part in this event are cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, The Countess of Wessex’s String Orchestra and Rob Rinder.
Holocaust Memorial Day will be broadcast on BBC One on Monday, 27th January at 7pm.
Over on BBC Two in an extraordinary and powerful documentary marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz on Holocaust Memorial Day 2025, The Last Musician of Auschwitz tells the story of cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who at 99 is the only surviving member of the Women’s Orchestra at Auschwitz.
Woven through the film are a series of new performances of musical works filmed in the shadow of Auschwitz today, including Träumerei (Dreams) from Robert Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood, which the notorious camp doctor Josef Mengele asked Anita to play for him – performed by Anita’s son and cellist, Raphael Wallfisch – and the UK broadcast premiere of the rare piece Lullaby, composed at the camp by a Polish political prisoner Adam Kopyciński – a handwritten manuscript of which still survives today.
The film also brings to life the testimonies of other Auschwitz inmates who played and composed music at the concentration and extermination camp including Syzmon Laks, Ilse Weber and Rosebery D’Arguto, to explore what music meant in the worst place on earth, and highlights the Nazi persecution of Roma and Sinti people who were sent in their thousands to Auschwitz.
The Last Musician of Auschwitz will be transmitted on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday, January 27th. There are also several programmes across Radio 3 and Radio 4 reflecting on the anniversary.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust:
“We deeply appreciate the BBC’s commitment to marking Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau with such thoughtful and wide-ranging programming. Holocaust Memorial Day is a moment for us all to pause, reflect, and remember the six million Jewish men, women, and children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, while also honouring the victims of more recent genocides including in Bosnia 30 years ago.
“It’s a day with the power to touch hearts and inspire change. The range of programming, including the national Ceremony, will bring the nation together and enable people of all backgrounds to learn invaluable lessons from the past – lessons that remind us of our shared responsibility to build a kinder, better future.”
