AS I sit to write this column I am watching the remembrance service taking place in Auschwitz.

Watching the frail old people who witnessed one of the most barbaric acts in human history taking their place amongst world and religious leaders.

Every year the liberation of Auschwitz provides a focus to remember not only the evil that led to those terrible events but the human cost of genocide throughout the generations.

I have visited Auschwitz and rarely in my life have I felt such a terrible weight.

Later in life in both Rwanda and again in Bosnia I saw again the human cost and the human impact of genocide.

Those events teach us that we must all remember not only the events themselves but also how they happened and why they must never be allowed to happen again.

And the determination that such events will never be repeated still drives me in politics today.

And we can all play our part.

I hope that all of us who were moved by the memory of the Holocaust this week will look at our own lives and how we can challenge racism, anti-Semitism and the easy chauvinism that can sometimes disfigure our daily lives and our politic debates.

And when we discuss difficult issues such as immigration and community relations that I hope that we will all remember that the events of the 20th century happened because we failed to challenge the extremists until it was too late.

And let our tribute to those who were murdered and those who were the victims be that determination that we will not allow such an event to happen again.