About us

HMD has taken place in the UK since 2001, with a UK Commemorative Ceremony and more than 10,000 local activities taking place all across the UK on or around 27 January each year.

The UK played a leading role in establishing HMD as an international day of commemoration in 2000, when 46 governments signed the Stockholm Declaration.

The UK Government had responsibility for running HMD from 2001-2005, organised through the Home Office.

In May 2005 HMDT was registered as a charity (charity no: 1109348) and the Home Secretary appointed HMDT Trustees for the first time. The professional team started work in October 2005.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (previously known as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) has funded our work since 2007.

To date, we have overseen massive growth of local HMD activities. We have worked in partnership with many organisations to ensure the life stories of survivors are shared with hundreds of thousands of people. 

Our Impact

In April 2025, we published the Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 Impact Report – showcasing the wide range of activities we delivered and supported to commemorate this important day.  Over 2 million people watched the UK National Ceremony on BBC One and iPlayer, bringing the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust into homes across the country. Our public engagement reached new heights: the ‘Light the Darkness’ campaign saw 200 buildings and landmarks illuminated in purple, nearly 4 million people saw our outdoor digital billboard campaign, 700,000 cinema-goers saw our 1-minute film and, on social media, 2.2 million people watched premier league footballers meet Holocaust survivors.

The report offers a glimpse into the breadth of our activities and the lives we have touched, from engaging workplaces, prisons and schools to more than 80 communities who created unique candle holders in memory of individuals and groups who were persecuted or killed in the Holocaust.