THE police and crime commissioner for Bolton has lit a Jewish memorial candle to remember Holocaust victims.

Tony Lloyd, who is the Greater Manchester commissioner, lights a Yahrezeit candle each year to remember Jacob Wygodzk, a Lithuanian politician murdered by the Nazis.

Mr Lloyd said: “The Holocaust was the darkest moment in human history and we must never forget those who lost their lives and those who suffered indescribable treatment in the extermination camps.

“The Holocaust is still an event which happened in living memory, but as the number of people who survived its horrors becomes fewer, it’s more important than ever that we commemorate it.

“We should do so out of respect for those who lost their lives, but also to ensure it is never repeated.

“The Holocaust is a warning about what happens when extremism becomes the mainstream. We must learn its lessons and ensured it remains seared in our collective memories.

“I have lit a Yahrzeit candle in memory of Jacob Wygodzki, who was a Polish-Lithuanian Jewish politician who was tortured and killed in Lukiškes Prison in 1941 when the Nazis occupied Vilnius.

“I do this each year because the Holocaust was murder on an industrial scale.

“But each of those six million murders represented an individual story, an individual life lost. That’s something we must never lose sight of.”

Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom HaShoah, was marked from sundown on Sunday until Monday.