The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities between 1933 and 1945 by Nazi Germany, an attempt to implement their final solution to the Jewish question. 27 January was chosen to commemorate the date that Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945.
The day remembers the killing of six million Jews, two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population, and millions of others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
It was designated by United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005. The resolution came after a special session was held earlier that year on 24 January to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust.
Many countries have instituted their own Holocaust Memorial Days. Many, such as the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day, also fall on 27 January, while others, such as Israel's Yom HaShoah, are observed at other times of the year.
Resolution 60/7 establishing 27 January as International Holocaust Remembrance Day urges every member nation of the U.N. to honor the memory of Holocaust victims, six million Jews, one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, and encourages the development of educational programs about Holocaust history to help prevent future acts of genocide.
It rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an event and condemns all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief. It also calls for actively preserving the Holocaust sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labor camps and prisons, as well as for establishing a U.N. programme of outreach and mobilization of society for Holocaust remembrance and education.
More information: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Resolution 60/7 and the International Holocaust Day was an initiative of the State of Israel. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, Silvan Shalom, was the head of the delegation of Israel to the United Nations.
The essence of the text lies in its twofold approach: one that deals with the memory and remembrance of those who were massacred during the Holocaust and the other with educating future generations of its horrors.
In 2006, 2007 and 2008, Holocaust Remembrance Weeks were organized by The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme. This programme is part of the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information and was established under General Assembly resolution 60/7.
Commemorations are held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and at Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem.
In Austria, commemorations of the Remembrance Day are held at the Heldenplatz in Vienna since 2012. The broad platform Jetzt Zeichen setzen! calls for participation of the civil society. Speakers include survivors of the Holocaust, antifascist activists and politicians hailing from parties throughout the political spectrum.
In Israel, the national Holocaust memorial day is known as Yom HaShoah, which is held on the 27th of Nisan. However, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is also held in Israel, on which day government officials, diplomats and ambassadors visit Yad Vashem and there are ceremonies throughout the country. Every year, as part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs presents the annual report on antisemitism before the Israeli government. The report reviews the main trends and incidents of the last year, in terms of antisemitism and combating antisemitism.
More information: UNESCO
racism and stereotyping on a society.
It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship
and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction.
Tim Holden
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