2006 Holocaust Remembrance Week
Calendar of Events | Secretary-General's Message | Message by the President of the United Nations General Assembly | UNICs
Calendar of Events
Tue 24 Jan | Wed, 26 Jan | Fri, 27 Jan
"Remembrance and Beyond"
Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Exhibition "No Child's Play – Remembrance and Beyond"
An exhibit opening for "No Child's Play – Remembrance and Beyond" took place in the Visitors' Lobby. This travelling exhibit, produced by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, opens a window into the world of children during the Shoah. It focuses on toys, games, artwork, diaries and poems that highlight some of the personal stories of the children and provide a glimpse into their lives during the Holocaust. The exhibition tells the story of survival -- the struggle of these children to hold on to life.
Film Screeing “Fateless”
Screening of the movie “Fateless” by Lajos Koltai in the Dag Hammarskj?ld Auditorium.The movie, based on the novel with the same name by Nobel Literature Laureate Imre Kertesz, follows a 14-year Jewish boy from Budapest to the Buchenwald concentration camp
Thursday, 26 January 2006
An NGO briefing focusing on promoting tolerance and cross-cultural understanding was held in the Dag Hammarskj?ld Library Auditorium. Statements by H.E. Mr. Dan Gillerman, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, and Mr. Judea Pearl, the Daniel Pearl Foundation.
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
A solemn candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of the Holocaust was held in the Visitors' Lobby.
Welcoming remarks:
Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information
Statements by:
Acting President of the General Assembly, H.E. Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations
Message by General Assembly President
Featuring:
Excerpts from the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be read by Holocaust Survivors: Ms. Lyubov Abramovich, Mr. Roman Kent, Ms. Johanna Liebman, Mr. David Mermelstein, Mr. Jack Polak, and Rabbi Arthur Schneier
Cantor Joseph Malovany of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue will recite prayers
An excerpt from “The Diary of Anne Frank” will be read by Ms. Jennifer Williams, a student at the United Nations International School
Friday, 27 January 2006
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
A memorial ceremony and lecture in observance of the first universal International Day of commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust was held in the General Assembly Hall.
Welcoming remarks by:
Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information
Acting President of the General Assembly, H.E. Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations
Excerpts from the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be read by Holocaust Survivors: Ms. Lyubov Abramovich, Mr. Roman Kent, Ms. Johanna Liebman, Mr. David Mermelstein, Mr. Jack Polak, and Rabbi Arthur Schneier
Cantor Joseph Malovany of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue will recite prayers
An excerpt from “The Diary of Anne Frank” will be read by Ms. Jennifer Williams, a student at the United Nations International School
Statements by:
The President of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly read by Acting President Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations
H.E. Ambassador Dan Gillerman, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations
Mrs. Gerda Klein of the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation, Holocaust survivor, author, historian and speaker introduced by Mr. Roman Kent, Chairman, American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
Images of Holocaust victims:
Narration of photographs of Holocaust victims memorialized on “Pages of Testimony” in the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. They represent a fraction of the millions of Jewish Holocaust victims recorded in the Central Database of Shoah victims’ names, available online at
Performance by:
The Zamir Chorale of Boston, featuring selections from their album “Hear Our Voices: Songs of the Ghettos and Camps”
Artistic Director: Joshua Jacobson. Soloist: Jack Mendelson. Pianist: Edwin Swanborn. Singers: Anna Adler, Sarah Boling, Liz Carver, Chuck Claus, Steven Ebstein, Jason Frankel, Susan Glazer, Phil Goldman, Sharon Brown Goldstein, Silvia Golijoy, Andrew Greene, Marilyn Jaye, Jordan Lee Wagner, Anne Levy, Richard Lustig, Deborah Melkin, Matthew Onigman, Susan Rubin, Richard Samuels, Lawrence Sandberg, Nancy Sargon-Zarsky, Gilbert Schiffer, Deborah Sosin, Peter Squires, Michael Victor, Shawn Weil, Jody Weixelbaum, Phyllis Werlin, Deborah West, Barbara Wild
“Remembrance and Beyond” lecture by:
Professor Yehuda Bauer, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem and the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research
The Secretary-General Message
for The International Day of Commemoration
in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
Today, for the first time, the United Nations marks what will, from now on, be an annual observance: the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
There can be no reversing the unique tragedy of the Holocaust. It must be remembered, with shame and horror, for as long as human memory continues.
Only by remembering can we pay fitting tribute to the victims. Millions of innocent Jews and members of other minorities were murdered in the most barbarous ways imaginable. We must never forget those men, women and children, or their agony.
Remembering is a necessary rebuke to those who say the Holocaust never happened or has been exaggerated. Holocaust denial is the work of bigots. We must reject their false claims whenever, wherever and by whomever they are made.
Remembering is also a safeguard for the future. The abyss reached in the Nazi death camps started with hatred, prejudice and anti-Semitism. Recalling these origins can remind us to be ever on the lookout for warning signs.
As the Holocaust recedes in time, and as the number of survivors dwindles, it falls to us – the current generation -- to carry the torch of remembrance and uphold the cause of human dignity.
The United Nations was founded as a reaction to the horrors of the Second World War. Even so, the international community has too often failed to stand up to mass atrocities. In recent years, we have taken important steps to improve on that record, such as establishing the International Criminal Court and agreeing on the collective responsibility to protect.
On this International Day of Commemoration, the theme of our observance is “remembrance and beyond”. In that spirit, let us pledge ourselves to even greater efforts to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity.
Kofi Annan
Message by the President of the United Nations General Assembly H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson
on the Occasion of the International Day of Commemoration
in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
27 January 2006
Today we observe for the first time the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. This event will take place every year on 27 January. This follows the adoption without a vote of General Assembly resolution 60/7 on “Holocaust remembrance”, on 1 November 2005.
This year’s commemoration is of special significance. It takes place only one year after the General Assembly’s Special Session, on 24 January 2005, which marked the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.
The liberation of the Nazi death camps revealed to the world one of the most horrendous crimes against humanity. Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Sobibor and Treblinka are among the sites where the lives of millions of people were extinguished on political, religious or ethnic grounds.
Remembering this low point in human history is a solemn duty for all of us. We must continue to exorcise the evil of the past. In resolution 60/7 the General Assembly unequivocally “rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historic event, either in full or part”.
We must also commit ourselves to preventing the reoccurrence of genocide in the future, whenever and wherever it might occur. We must remain vigilant. The forces of hatred, bigotry and racism are still at work in the world.
It is a tragedy that the international community has not been able to stop new horrors in the years since the Holocaust. This makes it all the more important that we remember the lessons of the Holocaust. It must be a unifying cause around which we all can rally.
On this International Day of Commemoration let us pay tribute to all the victims of the Holocaust. Let us also honour the survivors. And in looking back at this sombre page of history and other atrocities and crimes of genocide following it, let us join forces and recommit ourselves to building mutual respect and dignity for all. Holocaust remembrance will strengthen us in this resolve.
2006 Holocaust Remembrance Activities Around The World
The network of United Nations information centres, services and offices commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day either individually or jointly with regional or local civil society partners and Governments.
Memorial ceremonies
These included special events in Bangkok, Rome (in collaboration with the Jewish community in Rome and the Rome Provincial Authority), and Eritrea (in cooperation with the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea). UNIS Geneva held a special ceremony where the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Permanent Representative of Israel in Geneva, and a survivor of the Holocaust spoke. “Never Again: A Concert for Life” was arranged by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Mexico.
Exhibitions
Photographic exhibits were mounted at United Nations offices in Bangkok, Nairobi and Vienna; the United Nations Office at Nairobi also held a candlelight vigil. Civil society partnerships included a programme jointly arranged by UNIC Lusaka with the United Nations Association of Zambia and another held by UNIC Rio de Janeiro, which involved the Roma community.
Educational activities
In line with the programme’s mission to promote awareness of the lessons learned from the Holocaust, a number of United Nations offices organized forums for discussion of the issue. UNIC Ouagadougou hosted a seminar in partnership with the National Commission of Human Rights in Burkina Faso. UNIC Warsaw briefed Polish teachers at a programme organized by the National In-Service Teacher Training Centre and the Polish Association entitled “Children of the Holocaust”. UNIC Prague organized a public discussion with two holocaust survivors and conducted a public screening of two Czech documentaries about the quest of students for their Jewish neighbours who disappeared during the Second World War. A debate with the film’s producer and Holocaust survivors followed.
Media outreach
Media outreach by UNICs yielded articles in the local press in Bogota, Kyiv, La Paz, Tbilisi and Yangon. In addition, UNIC Buenos Aires created a special feature on its website.