LOCAL MP Ivan Lewis has backed the establishment of a Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, and the publication of a Government educational package to go with it.

The Jewish MP for Bury South believes it is vital for a multi-racial Britain to recall how the Nazis murdered six million Jews in a bid to exterminate the race.

January 27 commemorates the day in 1945 when Soviet soldiers entered the Auschwitz Concentration Camp discovering thousands of bodies and finally exposing the evil of Hitler's "final solution".

Last week Education Minister Jacqui Smith published the education pack to enable children to learn about the horror.

But it also turns the universal lessons of the Holocaust into questions about democracy and diversity and racism and responsibility.

She said the lessons of the Holocaust were relevant, not just because it was one of the "most horrendous crimes against humanity", but also because genocide in various forms continues around the world.

She said: "Holocaust Memorial Day promotes the need for a more tolerant, just society, which fights against the evils of all discrimination."

Mr Lewis, a prominent supporter of next January's first British Holocaust Memorial Day, and who has visited Auschwitz, said: "The tragedy of the Holocaust should never be forgotten.

"Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity to remember the past, and to challenge anti-Semitism and racism today.

"Education is the key, and the message needs to be visible in schools, encouraging younger generations to play an active role in creating a more tolerant society."