Last Sunday marked Holocaust Memorial Day and provided us with an opportunity to reflect on one of the most evils scars on the history of mankind. It also marked 74 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in January 1945 – one of the Nazi’s most brutal camps where over a million Jews and other marginalised minorities were systematically exterminated. I signed the Holocaust book of commitment in Parliament last week to pay my personal respects to all the victims of this horrific genocide.

It was an absolute pleasure to attend Dudley North MP Ian Austin’s annual Holocaust Commemoration event at Dudley College again to hear the testimony of Holocaust survivor Zigi Shipper. Zigi’s speech really moved me as he spoke about his own extraordinary experiences, including his early life in Poland and his time in Auschwitz and the Stutthof Concentration Camp. It was a fantastic afternoon and it was especially good to see so many young people there.

Zigi truly inspired me with his remarkable capacity for forgiveness and his sheer determination for us to collectively ensure that the atrocities committed by the Third Reich during the Second World War can never be repeated again. Quite poignantly, last week was also the 54th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s death in 1965. Churchill was an Englishman who embodies, probably above all else, the struggle for liberty against fascism and all other forms of extremism.

Disturbingly, we have seen a rise in anti-Semitic hate speech in this country over the last couple of years, which just shows what can happen if we don’t heed the warnings of history. I think it was the American lawyer and writer Clarence Darrow who said that a true patriot hates injustice in their own land more than anywhere else. We must commit ourselves, as Zigi Shipper has done, to ensuring we speak out against all forms of hatred and extremism whenever they raise their ugly heads.

I will be holding an open advice surgery tomorrow (Friday) in Asda café, Merry Hill at 2.30-3.30pm if any constituents want to come along for a chat or to raise anything specific with me.

As always, if you would like to get in touch with me about anything at all, please don’t hesitate to email me at mike.wood.mp@parliament.uk or call my office on 01384 913 123.