International Holocaust Memorial Day
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| 1. Holocaust Memorial Day Booklet [Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, January 2016] |
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| 2. Elie Wiesel, K.B.E., Nobel Peace prize winner A Romanian born survivor of the Nazi Holocaust [Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, January 2016] ________________________________________ |
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posted by ritsonvaljos at 6:31 pm
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Additional information
Holocaust Memorial Day
On 27 January 1945, the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated by the advancing troops of the Soviet Union. This date can be regarded as the beginning of the end of the genocide perpetrated by the Nazi regime that became known as the Holocaust (Shoah in Hebrew) of the Second War.
Following a United Nations General Assembly resolution passed in November 2005 the annual International Holocaust Memorial Day was established. United Nations Resolution number 60/7, urged every member to honour the memory of the Holocaust victims and encourage educational programmes about the history of the Holocaust in the belief and hope that future acts of genocide will be prevented. The first International Memorial Holocaust Day was marked on 27 January 2006. The claims of those who deny the Holocaust existed are totally rejected.
It is estimated that the Second World War Holocaust resulted in the deaths of about 6 million Jews, 1 million Romanies (Gypsies) and other races deemed not to be racially pure. In addition, the Nazis targeted individuals and groups whose political or religious beliefs were in conflict with Nazi ideology (e.g. Jehovah's Witnesses, Freemasons and Trade Unionists). Also according to the Nazi philosophy, the Slavic people of Eastern Europe, were regarded as 'Untermenschen' (sub-human).
Individual countries had commemorated a day of remembrance for Holocaust victims prior to January 2006. For example, the United Kingdom has marked Holocaust Memorial Day (H.M.D.) on 27 January since 2001. It was established following the signing of the Stockholm Declaration by the governments of 46 countries.
Since 2007 the British Government, currently through the Department for Communities and Local Government, has funded the work of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (H.M.D.T). This is the charity which promotes and supports the Holocaust Memorial Day in Britain. For 2016, the H.M.D.T. has produced a booklet as part of the Holocaust Day Memorial commemorations [Photograph No. 1].
One aspect of the H.M.D. is to honour the survivors of the Holocaust, one of whom is the writer and Nobel Peace prize winner Elie Wiesel, whose experiences and memories form part of the Holocaust remembrance [Photograph No. 2].
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The Holocaust (1941 - 1945)
The following extract about the Holocaust between 1941 and 1945 is from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust booklet published in January 2016:
"Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis attempted to annihilate all of Europe's Jews. This systematic and planned attempt to murder European Jewry is known as the Holocaust.
From the time they came to power in 1933, the Nazis used propaganda, persecution and legislation to deny human and civil rights to Jews. They used centuries of ant-Semitism as their foundation.
By 1941 Jews had been rounded up and forced to live in overcrowded ghettos. As part of the 'Final Solution', ghettos were liquidated and Jews were sent to camps, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau. At killing centres, those considered too old or weak to work - including women and children - were sent straight to the gas chambers. Those considered strong enough were sent to work in appalling conditions.
By the end of the Holocaust, six million Jewish men, women and children had perished in ghettos, mass-shootings, in concentration camps and in extermination camps."
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Re-asserting the universal commitment to Human Rights
"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
[Elie Wiesel, K.B.E., Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor]
"The International Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is thus a day on which we must reassert our commitment to human rights."
[Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 19 January 2008]
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Further reading and external links
(1) To find out more about the annual Holocaust Memorial Day, click on the following link:
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (a U.K. charity)
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(2) To find out more about Yad Vashem, the Jewish people's 'living memorial' to the Holocaust, click on the following link:
Yad Vashem, Holocaust Memorial website
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