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World Holocaust Remembrance Day – 27 January 2024

 2024 Theme: Recognizing the Extraordinary Courage of Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust   

During the Holocaust, the Nazis went to great lengths to dehumanize their victims. Defying the Nazis took extraordinary courage.

In 2024, the United Nations is paying tribute to the bravery of all those who stood up to the Nazis, despite the grave risks. We will honour their legacy with their remarkable stories and history. In the memory of all victims and survivors, we will step up our efforts to counter Holocaust denial, antisemitism and racism.

 

New Educational Product: Poster set “The Butterfly Project: Remembering the Children of the Holocaust”

The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme has partnered with the Houston Holocaust Museum to produce a set of 14 posters based on the Museum’s exhibition The Butterfly Project: Remembering the Children of the Holocaust for display by the global network of United Nations information centres. The exhibition outlines the impact of the Holocaust on children, and showcases an educational initiative called The Butterfly Project developed by Holocaust Museum Houston to teach this history to young people, encourage them to remember the 1.5 million children who perished and to stand up against hatred and prejudice.

 

Source: Text: UN Images: Pixabay Free Images    UN

International Holocaust Remembrance Day – 27th January

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is annually observed on the 27th of January. It’s a solemn commemoration of the Holocaust which is considered to be the darkest period during the Nazi regime wherein millions of Jews including all other cultural minorities are brutally killed in mass concentration camps across the German-occupied Europe. The primary objective of the holiday is to honor both the deceased and surviving victims as well as to promote awareness of the Holocaust worldwide.

On November 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly has formally designated January 27 as the day of the holocaust commemoration through UN resolution 60/7. 27th of January was also specifically chosen because it was the day of liberation for Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration or extermination camp nicknamed as “The Death Factory.”

All UN member states and offices observe the holiday with their own respective events and activities but from 2010, the UN started designating specific annual themes to focus on.

Holocaust 2017 – Holocaust Remembrance: Educating for a Better Future
The UN charter which established the holiday also stressed the reasons why the annual commemoration is observed. The holiday primarily aims to remember and honor the Holocaust victims. Second is the development of educational programs or materials about the Holocaust and its lessons. Related to this is the establishment of a Holocaust and the United Nations outreach program to be able to achieve said education purpose.

It also rejects any denial about the veracity of Holocaust and urges the preservation of Holocaust or Nazi-related artifacts and sites like the concentration, labor and prison camps. The resolution also condemns ethnic or religious discrimination as it states “Condemns without reserve all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur.” But ultimately, all these aspects point to the aim of preventing a similar case of genocide today and in the future.

Source: Text & Picture: World Religion News: « 2017 International Holocaust Remembrance Day Events » http://www.worldreligionnews.com/?p=34495

Memories

man thinking rememberingWe celebrated Remembrance Day yesterday. November is really the month of memories when souvenirs come back to us, one by one, or many of them all at once.

Poets and writers meditate on this theme and share their thoughts with us.

looking remembering

Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life and death struggle people went through is now like something from the distant past.
We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events from the past are no longer in orbit around our minds.
There are just too many things we have to think about every day, too many new things we have to learn.
But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.
They remain with us forever, like a touchstone. »  Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore