International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Not to be confused with Yom HaShoah (April 19, 2012), the United States’ Holocaust Remembrance Day, today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day in 1945, the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, and in 2005 this day was adopted as the United Nations’ day of Holocaust Remembrance—a day in which every nation state in the United Nations is obligated to honor the over 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. This year, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is dedicated to the children who died in the Holocaust. Today, the Secretary-General of the United Nations gave this statement:

“One and a half million Jewish children perished in the Holocaust – victims

of persecution by the Nazis and their supporters.

Tens of thousands of other children were also murdered.

They included people with disabilities… as well as Roma and Sinti.

All were victims of a hate-filled ideology that labelled them “inferior”.

This year’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust is dedicated to the children – girls and boys who faced sheer terror and evil.

Many were orphaned by the war, or ripped away from their families.

Many died of starvation, disease or at the hands of their abusers.

We will never know what these children might have contributed to our world.

And among the survivors, many were too shattered to tell their stories.

Today, we seek to give voice to those accounts.

That is why the United Nations continues to teach the universal lessons of the Holocaust.

It is why we strive to promote children’s rights and aspirations – every day and everywhere.

And it is why we will continue to be inspired by the shining example of great humanitarians such as Raoul Wallenberg, in this, the centennial year of his birth.

Today, as we remember all those lost during the Holocaust – young and old alike -- I call on all nations to protect the most vulnerable, regardless of race, colour, gender or religious beliefs.

Children are uniquely vulnerable to the worst of humankind.

We must show them the best this world has to offer.

Thank you.”

H.E. Mr. Ban Ki Moon

The Secretary-General of United Nations

For more information about International Holocaust Remembrance Day and how to attend a memorial in your area, click here.