United Nations (UN)’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust (International Holocaust Remembrance Day) is annually observed across the globe on January 27 to remember the victims of the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, which was the genocide of European Jews during World War II.
- 27th January 2023 marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi German concentration and extermination camp.
The theme of International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust 2023 is “Home and Belonging“.
Background:
i. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/60/7 on 1st November 2005 and proclaimed January 27 of every year as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
ii. International Holocaust Remembrance Day was chosen by the UNGA to mark the liberation of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau (1940-1945) by the Soviet Army.
iii. The 1st ever International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust was observed on 27th January 2006.
Events 2023:
i. The UN Holocaust memorial ceremony was held on 27th January 2023 in the UN General Assembly Hall, New York City, United States.
ii. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) hosted the memorial ceremony for 2023 in partnership with the Shoah Memorial, which will include remarks by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO and Eric de Rothschild, President of the Shoah Memorial at UNESCO Headquarters (Paris, France) and field offices.
iii. The event will also feature violinist Robert Davidovici performing Jorge Grundman’s Shoah, for Solo Violin and Sacred Temple, Isabelle Choko, President of the Union of Auschwitz, France, presenting a Survivor Testimony, and cantor and mezzo-soprano Sofia Falkovitch singing Kaddish and El Male Rachamim.
iv. UNESCO hosts the Wiener Holocaust Library exhibition “‘There was a time…’: Jewish Family Photographs Before 1939” from 17th January 2023 to 10th February 2023 in Paris, France.
- The exhibition is on the exterior fences of UNESCO to reflect on the richness and diversity of Jewish life in Europe before the Second World War.
History of the Holocaust:
i. The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators.
ii. The Holocaust era began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany and ended in May 1945, when the Allied Powers defeated Nazi Germany in World War II.
- This genocide was carried out by the Nazi German government between 1941 and 1945.
The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme:
i. UNGA Resolution 60/7 established the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme with an aim to mobilise civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide.
ii. The Program has established a global network of partners throughout the years and created a variety of initiatives, including educational resources, professional development programmes, a film series, panel discussions and exhibitions.
About the United Nations:
Secretary-General- António Guterres
Headquarters- New York, USA
Establishment- 1945
About the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO):
Director-General- Audrey Azoulay
Headquarters- Paris, France
Establishment- 1945 (came into force in 1946)
