Holocaust Memorial Ceremony 2019

1. "28 Jan 2019 - The theme of the Holocaust remembrance and education activities this year is “Holocaust Remembrance: Demand and Defend Your Human Rights”. This theme encourages youth to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust, act against discrimination and defend democratic values in their communities, at a time when the spread of Neo-Nazism and hate groups fuels the rising antisemitism and other forms of hatred around the world. The theme highlights the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."

The annual ceremony has been hosted by Ms. Alison Smale, United Nations Under- Secretary-General for Global Communications.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres; H.E. Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly; H.E. Mr. Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations; H.E. Mr. Jonathan R. Cohen, Chargé d’Affaires, United States Mission to the United Nations; Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin, the Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, delivered remarks.

Ms. Sara J. Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum served as the keynote speaker. Ms. Bloomfield has led the Museum for 18 years, working to build a global institution that raises Holocaust awareness, deepens understanding of the lessons of the Holocaust, confronts denial, and advances genocide prevention.

Mr. Marian Turski, Chair of the Council of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Deputy Chair of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, journalist and recipient of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour, shared his testimony as a survivor of the Holocaust. Ms. Inge Auerbacher shared her account as a child survivor of Terezín. Cantor Benny Rogosnitzky of the Park East Synagogue recited the memorial prayers. The ceremony included musical elements performed by the PS22 Chorus.

Marian Turski, były więzień Auschwitz, wiceprzewodniczcący Stowarzyszenia ŻIH w Polsce, wygłosił przemówienie.