Following commemorations yesterday, a special commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is being held today in the presence of the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering and a range of guests, including around 150 members of the Parliament.

The ceremony for the European Union states will be addressed by speakers including the President of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor, one of the world's leading advocates for Holocaust remembrance and education.

Kantor is the founder of the World Holocaust Forum – The International Foundation for the Commemoration of the Holocaust and its Lessons.

The event coincides with the first working day following the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, which took place on 27 January 1945.

It signalled an end to the campaign of systematic murder which saw the murder of some 6 million Jews and millions of others, including Poles, East Slavs, Soviet and Spanish prisoners, Roma people, homosexuals, people with mental and physical disabilities, communists, priests and members of minority religious groups, Freemasons and more.

"The lessons of the Holocaust are universal ones which serve to remind all of humanity of the dangers inherent within hatred, intolerance and ignorance," said Mr Kantor.

He added: “As an international community, it is critical that we welcome this occasion to once again educate people all over the globe that this darkest of periods must never be forgotten.”