We regularly comment on current events that overlap with the IHRA's mandate. Statements can come from the IHRA Chair, IHRA Secretary General, or, when consensus is reached among all Member Countries, by the IHRA in the form of an IHRA Statement.
As the Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (formerly ITF, now IHRA), I am outraged that the infamous sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” over one of Auschwitz’ main gates has been stolen. Having visited Auschwitz recently I can testify to the power of that sign. It bears witness to the unprecedented mass murder of over a million innocent civilians in Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War. This horrible and shameful act of vandalism must be strongly condemned.
The following statement was endorsed by the 27 member States of the ITF at the Plenary session in Trondheim, Norway, on 3 December 2009.
The Roma were subject to persecution and genocide under Nazi-rule. The Roma in Europe still suffer from the repercussion of the destruction of their communities. It is very disturbing that in several European countries the situation of Roma has deteriorated seriously during 2009. Hate crimes have led to deaths and Roma are confronted with discrimination on an alarming scale. There is an urgent need for governments and civil society to respond to the prejudices, discrimination and violence that Roma experience and that threaten democratic society, and to support initiatives that work toward combating these developments.1 The ITF seeks to cooperate with other international organisations (OSCE/ODHIR, Council of Europe, FRA among others) that are responding to this situation.
Building on the past activities of the EWG, the ITF calls on all its member states to address the situation in the field of education.2 The Stockholm Declaration on the Holocaust acknowledges all the victims of the Nazis and the indelible scar that their suffering has left across Europe. It is essential that educational institutions take on the responsibility to include teaching about the Roma genocide within the framework of Holocaust education. In most countries the majority of the teachers are not equipped and materials are not available to teach this history. Focussing on the Roma genocide would give historical insight into the danger of not responding to hate and discrimination. Teachers are often not able to respond adequately to anti-Roma sentiments that they meet within their schools.3
We call for all ITF countries to take the initiative to bring together leading institutions in the educational field, experts in combating prejudices and Roma educators, in order to develop educational tools to address the topics mentioned above and to work toward implementation at all levels of education. There is a specific urgency for such meetings in countries with large Roma communities.
The ITF looks to support projects, within its programs, which focus on the inclusion of the history of the Roma genocide within the context of the Holocaust, as well as educational strategies that combine learning about the past with combating anti-Roma sentiments in society today. Wherever possible the ITF will help further the international exchange of best practices in this field. Each member of the ITF pledges to report on the way in which their government is addressing the situation in the educational field.
1. EU-MIDI European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey, 22-04-09 (www.fra.europa.eu/eu-midis). See also: http://www.osce.org/odihr/51018 Statement by Andrzej Mirga, the head of the OSCE Contact Point for Roma, 9 June 2009, on the recent wave of violence against Roma and Sinti. The Statement makes clear that governments cannot afford to neglect the integration of Europe’s largest minority population.
2. The ITF has held two seminars for experts, the first in 2007 (in Brno, Czech Republic, in cooperation with the Museum of Romani Culture) and the second in 2008 (in Linz, Austria, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of Austria) as well as cooperated with the Council of Europe and the Hungary Ministry of Education in the teacher training seminar held in Budapest in 2008.
3. The cooperation with the Council of Europe and OSCE/ODIHR has been specifically crucial on this issue. The CoE has sent a questionnaire to 49 member states on the history of the Roma and the Roma genocide in the national curriculum. The CoE and OSCE jointly have developed a website on the history of the Roma and the Roma Genocide.
As the ITF (now IHRA) Chair I am appalled by and condemn the President of Iran’s statement of 18 September 2009 denying the reality of the Holocaust. Make no mistake: Holocaust denial is not merely a radical and baseless form of historical revisionism, but a form of antisemitic hate speech. It is aimed not just at Israel or Zionism but at inciting hatred against Jews everywhere.
As the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre said in his statement following a similar instance of Holocaust denial by the Iranian President at the Durban Review Conference on 20 April 2009, “I heard the messages in the President’s speech – and they amount to just that: incitement of hatred, spreading politics of fear and promoting an indiscriminate message of intolerance.”
Such statements of Holocaust denial spread malice and ignorance; they fan the flames of antisemitism and are unworthy of the leader of the Iranian people.
**UPDATE** WIESENTHAL CENTER PRAISES INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST TASK FORCE FOR SHARP CONDEMNATION OF AHMADINEJAD’S CONTINUED HOLOCAUST DENIAL
With great concern, the ITF (now IHRA) Chair has become aware of recent statements made by members of Hamas regarding efforts of the United Nations to introduce education about the Holocaust into the Gaza school system.
The 27 member states of the Task Force are committed to the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, which reaffirms the universal meaning of the Holocaust for all mankind and pledges to uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it.
In the same spirit, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 1 November 2005 on Holocaust remembrance, reaffirming that the Holocaust will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice, and rejecting any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in full or part.
The 2005 resolution also established a United Nations programme of outreach on the subject of the “Holocaust and the United Nations”. Since the resolution, the ITF has been in close contact and worked in cooperation with the United Nations outreach programme. The Task Force fully supports and welcomes the efforts of all UN agencies in this regard. The ITF is committed to encouraging education about the Holocaust and its meaning to children everywhere in the world in order to, in the words of the Stockholm Declaration; “plant the seeds of a better future amidst the soil of a bitter past.”
The following statement is issued by the Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (formerly ITF, now IHRA), Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, in conjunction with the resolution passed by the European Parliament on 2 April 2009, determining 23 August, the date on which in 1939 the infamous Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement was signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as a date of remembrance to victims of both regimes.
Statement of Chairman Amb. Tom Vraalsen:
Recognizing the importance of commemorating all victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in Europe during the twentieth century, the Chair of the ITF, in accordance with the above-mentioned European Parliament resolution that acknowledges the uniqueness of the Holocaust, wishes to emphasize the unprecedented character of the Holocaust as a catastrophe, which fundamentally challenged the foundations of civilization.
ITF Member States are committed to the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, which acknowledges the need to preserve the memory of the Holocaust for future generations by promoting education, remembrance and research about the Holocaust, and by commemorating its victims.
In light of the recent growth of revisionism and of attempts to deny or diminish the reality of the Holocaust, the Chair of the ITF underscores the importance of remembering the victims of the Holocaust as well as those who stood against it, and encourages the study of the Holocaust in all its dimensions, including the acts of its perpetrators and their collaborators.
This serious matter and its implications will be further discussed by the ITF in the proceedings at its upcoming Plenary Meeting in Trondheim, Norway, on 30 November – 2 December 2009.
Finally, the ITF Chair strongly encourages everyone to observe and appropriately commemorate 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp and the day designated by the United Nations as an annual International Day of Commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust (UN Resolution A/RES/60/7.)
After extensive consultations, the ITF (now IHRA) Chair has authorized the ITF’s Permanent Office to transmit the following statement:
In recent weeks, certain individuals and institutions have publically questioned Norway’s suitability to chair the “Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF)”. The reason for this is Norway’s commemoration this year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun.
The commemoration of Knut Hamsun’s birth has led to a debate about him as an acclaimed author and as a person who sympathized with the Nazi regime before and during the Second World War. The debate is understandable and welcome, but it does not in any way affect Norway’s current Chairmanship of the Task Force. Norway is firm in its commitment to the principles of the Stockholm Declaration, which form the basis of the Task Force, and is dedicated to the fight against contemporary anti-Semitism and all forms of intolerance.
It is Hamsun’s literary work that is being honored. His pro-Nazi activities must continue to be condemned as they were when he was tried in Norway, convicted and punished after the war. Because of this sordid aspect of his life, Hamsun will remain a controversial figure in Norway and globally.
Task Force members have expressed not only full confidence in the Norwegian Chair, but also appreciation for the unwavering commitment of the Norwegian Chair to further the goals of the Task Force in the international public arena in the areas of Holocaust education, remembrance, and research and in the fight against anti-Semitism.
-Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research
The Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (formerly ITF, now IHRA) welcomes and fully supports the Yad Vashem comment (see below) regarding the Pope’s decision on Bishop Williamson’s unacceptable stance regarding the Holocaust. The Work of the ITF is based on the Declaration of 2001 of the Stockholm International Forum of the Holocaust which states inter alia: Together we must uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it. Thus, every clear stance taken against statements or attitudes amounting to the denial or trivialization of the truth of the Holocaust corresponds to the very spirit underlying the endeavors of the ITF and its 26 member countries. Yad Vashem is one of the most important institutions participating in and supporting the ITF from its very beginning.
Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff Chairman ITF
(February 5, 2009- Jerusalem) Yad Vashem welcomes the Pope’s decision to demand that Bishop Richard Williamson publicly and unambiguously recant his stance regarding the Holocaust. The Pope’s decision sends an important message that Holocaust denial and antisemitism have no place within the Church. “When the highest moral authority of the Church states that Holocaust denial is unacceptable, that is a vital message for the entire world,” noted Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.
Final – approved 30 October, 2007
The Chair of the ITF (now IHRA), on behalf of the members of the ITF, expresses his abhorrence at the intention of neo-Nazis to demonstrate in the old Jewish Quarter of Prague on November 10, the anniversary of the „Kristallnacht“ Pogrom perpetrated by Nazi Germany in 1938. The Nazi regime and its actions have justifiably come to represent absolute evil, and any pro-Nazi demonstration must be seen as an expression of identification with that abhorrent regime and as an attempt to return Nazism to this world. The Chair and the ITF condemn all efforts to promote racism and anti-Semitism. We feel encouraged by determination of many civilian groups which will organize their own meetings to hinder neo-Nazi demonstration. The Chair calls on the Mayor of Prague and the Czech government to do all in theirs power to ensure that this demonstration will not take place and certainly not in the Jewish Quarter, in the heart of Prague.
