A special event at The Little Theatre in Bath will commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The event will be held at The Little Theatre in Bath on Sunday, January 26, starting at 6pm. This year’s anniversary is particularly poignant as it marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau – the largest Nazi death camp during World War II.

For the second year in a row, the Little Theatre in Bath and the B&NES Faith Foundation have teamed up to host the event – ensuring that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

Nathan Hartley, director of the B&NES Faith Foundation, said: “The European Holocaust of the 1930’s and 1940’s is one of the most documented genocides in history.”

More than 6million Jews were sent to extermination camps and gas chambers before and during the War. By 1945, 65 per cent of Europe’s Jewish population has been wiped out – at least two out of every three Jews on the continent had been killed.

As well as the Jewish community, other minority groups were also targeted and murdered by the Nazis, including members of the LGBT community, socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, disabled people, Slavs, Freemasons, Black Europeans, liberals and gypsies.”

This year, the Commandants Shadow will be shown at the Little Theatre. The true story that inspired the Oscar-winning ‘The Zone of Interest’, ‘The Commandant’s Shadow’ tells how, eight decades after Auschwitz, Hans Jurgen Höss and Anita Lasker Wallfisch – both survivors in their very different ways – come face to face, together with their children, to explore how the Holocaust has impacted all their lives.

A spokesperson at The Little Theatre said: “It’s a historic moment, the first time the descendant of a major war criminal meets a survivor in such a private and intimate setting. Told through first-hand testimony, letters, personal and historical archive footage, this feature-length documentary is about a mother and daughter, a father and son, and the shadow cast down the generations.”

The Faith Foundation's patron, Sarah Bevan, will say a few words before the film starts. Sarah is the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor and well known locally for her work in raising awareness of the horrors of 1930's and 1940's Europe. We'll also be joined by Cllr Karen Walker at this event, the Chairwoman of Bath & North East Somerset Council.

For more details, and to book tickets for the film screening visit: www.picturehouses.com/cinema/little-theatre-cinema