SCORES of people across East Lancashire have been observing Holocaust Memorial Day this week.

In Nelson yesterday, a vigil was staged outside the town's library.

People read out their thoughts and sympathies for those who were lost in the Nazi atrocities.

And Pendle MP Gordon Prentice signed the Book of Commitment, placed by the Holocaust Educational Trust in the House of Commons.

At the weekend in Burnley, people joined mayor Coun John Harbour at a ceremony at the war memorial.

Coun Harbour said: “We should learn the lessons of history and never forget the inhumanity mankind is capable of, as a warning for generations to come.”

And at Blackburn, victims of the Nazi atrocities were commemorated at a multi-faith service on the steps of the town hall in which some people laid wreaths.

Chair of the local Interfaith Forum, Salim Mulla opened the ceremony and Rabbi Arnold Saunders gave the main address.

Michael Lee, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “It is vital that people remember the horrors of the Holocaust as it will make it harder for something as inhumane to happen again.”

The commemorations mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.