Holocaust Remembrance Day

Jews from Subcarpathian Rus are subjected to a selection process on a ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum/Yad Vashem

PODCAST: Speaking up and confronting hatred, in memory of the Holocaust 

29 January 2021
The Lid is On

Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated 76 years ago this week, and to mark Holocaust remembrance day in late January, the corridors of UN Headquarters are normally filled with the stories of survivors who come to bear witness. 

But this year, the annual commemoration programme was held online for the first time ever, due to COVID-19, under the theme “Facing the Aftermath: Recovery and Reconstitution after the Holocaust”.  

For this latest edition of our Lid is On podcast, Ana Carmo brings you some of those voices of survival, along with the poignant contribution of German leader, Angela Merkel, and leading UN officials, speaking out against intolerance and racism, with neo-Nazism seemingly on the rise.  

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14'28"
Holocaust Survivor Irene Butter addresses the virtual memorial ceremony and discussion marking the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

US witnessed ‘echoes of the Holocaust’ during breach of the Capitol, says concentration camp survivor 

27 January 2021
Human Rights

Having grown up a Jewish child in Nazi-occupied Europe, Irene Butter said on Wednesday during a UN commemorative event online, that the United States had seen for itself “echoes of the Holocaust” on 6 January during what she described as an ‘attempted coup’ at the Capitol, in Washington DC. Some of the rioters that day, “wore Nazi symbols and used Nazi slogans”, she attested.  

The former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland.
Unsplash/Jean Carlo Emer

Stand against antisemitism with the ‘utmost determination’ – German Chancellor Merkel

27 January 2021
Human Rights

The world must stand with the “utmost determination against antisemitism”, the Chancellor of German told the UN’s annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony on Wednesday. 

Secretary-General António Guterres (3rd left) poses for a group photo on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

News in Brief 27 January 2020

27 January 2020
News in Brief
  • Societies must unite against ‘global crisis of antisemitic hatred’
  • Libya: UN report urges accountability for deadly migrant attack
  • UNESCO chief demands justice for killing of Iraqi reporters
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2'55"
A rose placed on the railway tracks at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland.
Unsplash/Albert Laurence

Societies must unite against ‘global crisis of antisemitic hatred’, Guterres urges

27 January 2020
Human Rights

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, and the six million Jews and others murdered on Nazi orders during the Holocaust, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a ceremony in New York on Monday that the world must “re-commit to preventing any repetition of those crimes”.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, where over a million Jews and members of other minorities perished during the Second World War.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

75 years after Auschwitz liberation, antisemitism still threatens ‘foundations of democratic societies’

23 January 2020
Human Rights

Commemorating 75 years since the liberation of the notorious Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, independent UN rights experts said on Thursday that “urgent action” is needed to combat mounting antisemitism.

Young Rohingya boys look out of their shelter at the Hakimpara refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
OCHA/Vincent Tremeau

News in Brief 23 January 2020

23 January 2020
News in Brief
  • Top UN court orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya from genocide
  • 75 years post-Auschwitz, antisemitism still threatens democracy
  • Global forestry gets a boost
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2'56"
Sara J. Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, delivers her keynote speech during the annual United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Holocaust reminds new generations that ‘the unthinkable is always possible’

28 January 2019
Interviews

An important lesson for young people to learn from the Holocaust is that individuals “have more power than they realize” to make sure that history is not forgotten, according to Sara Bloomfield, Director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, Ms. Bloomfield said youth the world over had a responsibility to ask what role they can play. 

 

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8'32"
Credit: United Nations
United Nations

Stand together against the “normalization of hate”: UN chief

26 January 2018
General News

Remembering the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, the UN chief has called on everyone around the world to “stand together against the normalization of hate”.

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