“As affirmed in the Stockholm Declaration (2000) and the IHRA Ministerial Declaration (2020), the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance notes the essential mission of Holocaust remembrance institutions and organizations around the world to increase global awareness of the Holocaust (Shoah) and its legacy as well as to preserve and disseminate the memory of the victims and the survivors.
Dedicated remembrance professionals and volunteers play indispensable roles in initiating, developing, and operating these entities. Yet numerous Holocaust remembrance organizations, institutions, and their professional staff and volunteers are encountering increased antagonism, stigmatization, and marginalization within local, national, and international contexts due to an alarming upsurge in expressions of Holocaust distortion and antisemitism, as well as a significant decline in public knowledge of the Holocaust.
The IHRA is gravely concerned that Holocaust survivors and their families, researchers, educators, and memorial and museum professionals are experiencing increased insecurity, disruption, and delegitimization that derive from growing antisemitism in a number of countries inside and outside the IHRA.
We decry that accurate and meaningful Holocaust remembrance worldwide is being threatened by the long-standing, deeply-rooted scourges of antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, which have gained strength and audacity particularly since the 7 October 2023 Hamas terror attacks upon Israel.
We call on local, regional, and national governmental agencies to protect Holocaust remembrance practitioners from antisemitic and distortionist threats and attacks.
The IHRA commends those countries that have actively engaged in efforts to combat antisemitism and Holocaust distortion and those that have made use of the resources developed by IHRA’s Global Taskforce against Holocaust distortion.
The IHRA urges national, regional, and local governments in its Member, Liaison, and Observer Countries as well as IHRA’s Permanent International Partners to redouble efforts to publicly and consistently support institutions, organizations, and professionals devoted to Holocaust research, education, and remembrance.
We steadfastly uphold our commitment to the IHRA’s foundational documents, the Stockholm Declaration and the IHRA Ministerial Declaration, which set forth the IHRA’s mandate and responsibility to uphold education, remembrance, and research about the Holocaust.”
