A service of reflection was broadcast online yesterday to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mark Lygo hosted the service which was attended by local councillors and faith leaders plus MP Annaliese Dodds.

Every year January 27 is set aside to remember the millions of people who were murdered in the Holocaust and the genocides that have followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

This year the national theme was “Be the light in the darkness”.

It was intended to encourage people to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to, but also the ways individuals and communities resisted the darkness to "be the light" before, during and after genocide.

The service opened with chairman of Oxfordshire County Council councillor Les Sibley reading the haunting poem Fear by Eva Pickova. A prayer was then said by Jawaid Malik JP, vice chair of the Oxford Council of Faiths.

Ms Dodds read We Remember Them by Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer followed by a reading of A Reflection for Holocaust Memorial Day by Penny Faust of the Oxford Jewish congregation.

Ms Faust then lit a Yahrzeit (Yiddish for “a year’s time”) candle and there was a minute’s silence for reflection.

City Rector of Oxford the Reverend Anthony Buckley closed the service with a prayer.

The event, which would normally have been held at Oxford Town Hall, was available to watch on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube.