Statement

2019

IHRA Chair’s Statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Italian Chair of the IHRA, Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin stresses on the importance of countering Holocaust denial and distortion on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 74th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau, German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945), the Italian Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin, stresses the importance of countering distortion and safeguarding the historical record.

“The Holocaust was not an incident of history that came out of the blue, but was the outcome of a process marked by legal discrimination and the progressive denial of the human rights of individuals and groups. We have learned from experience that hate that begins with one group rarely ends with that group. An accurate and nuanced understanding of the causes and consequences of the Holocaust are essential if we are to ensure such horrors are not repeated.

The IHRA’s 32 Member Countries are committed to planting the seeds of a better future amidst the soil of a bitter past by combatting the ongoing distortion of the narrative of the Holocaust and safeguarding the historical record of the Holocaust and the genocide of the Roma.

Together we remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity’s common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance, and promote Holocaust education, remembrance, and research worldwide and to uphold the commitments of the 2000 Stockholm Declaration.