Victims of genocide were remembered across Sussex on the third annual Holocaust Memorial Day.

The day marks exactly 58 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland during the Second World War.

More than one million people, most of them Jews, were imprisoned in the camp. Only 7,200 survived the ordeal.

The murder of six million Jews formed the central theme of events. Other victims, from Cambodia to Rwanda, were also remembered during one-minute silences.

Pupils from Buckingham Middle School joined civil dignitaries at Shoreham War Memorial yesterday to lay wreaths to the dead.

The youngsters were also joined by members of the local Jewish and Muslim communities and the Royal British Legion from Shoreham, Lancing and Southwick.

The Last Post was played by a bugler during a moving ceremony at the war memorial in East Street.

Adur District Council chairman Liza McKinney said: "This short ceremony is intended for reflection on the Holocaust and on genocide in the years since.

"It is an opportunity for us to show we care about our fellow human beings and want genocide to end. Facing discrimination, persecution or even death simply because of who you are is a terrible thing."

Philip Sion, vice-president of the Brighton Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen, said it was vital the persecution of the Jews was remembered.

Today, the Centre for Jewish German Studies at the University of Sussex will host its own Holocaust Memorial Day, featuring a talk by a Holocaust survivor. Call 01273 606755 for more details.