This week, in the lead-up to the 2019 Holocaust Memorial Day, I was privileged to join members of the community in Merthyr Tydfil who gathered to mark the completion of the Holocaust memorial garden at the rear of Merthyr Tydfil library. It's one small but important example of how a community, starting out with a grant from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, then with the assistance of several local groups of volunteers, can be part of the international effort of remembrance, research and education about Holocaust.

This year, we will reflect on the theme of Holocaust Memorial Day, torn from home, the challenges of being torn from home in the face of war, conflict and persecution and the basic desire for a better, safer life. This year also, I can't help but add a personal note of remembrance, having just returned from a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. We should never forget the horrors of Holocaust and we should use this time to reflect on the conditions that allowed such barbaric acts to occur—not just Nazi persecution, but genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.

My recent visit reinforced to me the value of each of our acts of remembrance, whether it's in Merthyr Tydfil, or whether it's here in the National Assembly, as we did at our vigil on the Senedd steps this lunchtime, or across our nation. In these testing times, let each of us reflect on our words, our thoughts and our actions, and let us remember those torn from home and pledge again that we will play our part in sustaining the conditions that ensure that the horrors of Holocaust are not repeated.