A SURVIVOR of the 1970s Cambodian genocide is set to speak as a guest at the civic commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day in Edinburgh.
The event is to be held in the Scottish capital on Monday with survivor Sokphal Din appearing as a guest speaker.
Din was 14 years old when the genocide began and survived life in several labour camps, tragically losing several of his friends and families.
An estimated two million Cambodians died in the genocide perpetrated by prime minister Khmer Rouge in 1975-1979.
Din will speak at the civic commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day and recount the tale of his family’s gruelling experience.
Din’s family eventually escaped Cambodia after fighting through years of starvation and the threat of violence.
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked across the world yearly on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The day commemorates the Nazi holocaust of Jewish people in Europe during the Second World War but also the genocides of Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
The event in Edinburgh is organised by the Edinburgh Interfaith Association (EIFA) and will be held at the capital’s city chambers.
Also in attendance at the event will be Rafi Brodkin, a leader of the Jewish Students on Campus at the University of Edinburgh and the Lord Provost and Christiane Hullmann, the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Scotland.
Brodkin and Hullmann will lay wreaths together in commemoration after Brodkin shares the story of his own family’s holocaust experience.
Professor Joe Goldblatt, co–chair of the EIFA said: “The city of Edinburgh’s support for this event has been constant since the beginning and it reminds us that every citizen has a responsibility to remember these horrific atrocities and to work together to ensure they never recur.”
