Statement

2009

Statement by the ITF Chair on the Importance of Teaching Children about the Holocaust

The IHRA is committed to encouraging education about the Holocaust and its meaning to children everywhere in the world.

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.”