January 27 marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the Westminster book signing is just one of hundreds of commemorative events taking place up and down the UK over the next few days.

The aim of the day is to motivate people to ensure that the horrendous acts of racism and victimisation committed during the Holocaust are neither forgotten nor repeated.

And that aim is at the heart of the trust – it was set up to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust and its relevance today, both in schools and throughout the wider public.

The Holocaust may have taken place over 60 years ago. But the reason its memory must be kept fresh is that it happened in an advanced and wealthy country; and was executed with a chilling clinical precision.

This was no outrage carried out in a wave of passionate fear or anger – inexcusable though that would still be. It showed how an apparently fringe movement, by working on the anxieties of decent people, could gain acceptance for this horrendous programme of systematic slaughter.

The fight against prejudice and racism is by no means over – we only need to think about the genocide that was captured by TV cameras in Rwanda and Bosnia to realise that. It's shocking to think that genocide is taking place right now in the Darfur region of Sudan. And – we should not delude ourselves – decent and tolerant though Britain is, the dark shadow of racism can still be discerned too often for comfort.

I personally feel very passionate about the goals of the trust and that's why I have been working with them in recent months.

Later this year I will be paying a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau with secondary school students from the Horsham area. It's my hope, and the hope of other MPs taking part in similar schemes in their own constituencies, that students will be able to see for themselves where unchallenged prejudice and discrimination can ultimately lead to. I hope they'll tell friends and family about their experience and what it has meant to them.

But we can all learn about the Holocaust and about more recent examples of genocide. I'd urge readers, if they are able, to get involved in an event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day or to find out more about the Holocaust by logging on to the Holocaust Educational Trust's website at www.het.org.uk.