As designated by the United Nations, today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. January 27 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camps by Soviet troops in 1945. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres issued a Message (full text) today marking the anniversary, saying in part:
Eighty years since the Holocaust’s end, antisemitism is still with us – fuelled by the same lies and loathing that made the Nazi genocide possible. And it is rising. Discrimination is rife...
Hate is being whipped-up the world over… Indisputable historical facts are being distorted, diminished, and denied… And efforts are being made to recast and rehabilitate Nazis and their collaborators. We must stand up to these outrages.
In these days of division – and more than a year since the appalling 7th October terror attacks by Hamas – we must hold fast to our common humanity. We must condemn antisemitism – just as we must condemn all forms of racism, prejudice and religious bigotry. And we must renew our resolve to defend the dignity and human rights of all. Those causes go to the very core of the United Nations. We will never forget – and we will never waver in that fight.
