Mourners stand in front of the Wall of Death during a ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Oświęcim, Poland, on Saturday. Photo credit: Jarek Praszkiewicz/EPA-EFE
Ceremonies to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day were held around the world on Saturday, against the backdrop of demonstrations in major European cities (pictured at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem). File photo: Debbie Hill/UPI
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz publicly called on people Saturday to stand up against anti-Semitism and racism.File photo provided by the United Nations
Jan. 27 (UPI) — Ceremonies to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day were held around the world on Saturday, as anti-far-right rallies continued in Germany and pro-Palestinian marches continued in Italy.
“Today, and every day, we are persecuted and murdered by the six million Jews, Roma, Sinti, political opponents, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, and others who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. We mourn those who were killed by the Nazi regime,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement released Saturday.
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“The United States stands with the victims of the Holocaust, their families, and their descendants. We stand with survivors and their families as we apply the lessons of the Holocaust to combat anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance. We will remember and pass on the legacy of
US President Joe Biden condemned the rise in global anti-Semitism in a statement released Friday to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which coincides with the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. did.
Biden called the Holocaust “one of the darkest chapters in human history.”
At the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oświęcim, Poland, 20 Holocaust survivors stand at the Wall of Death in the garden of Block 11, where German guards massacred thousands of Jewish prisoners during World War II. They laid wreaths and lit candles.
In Potočari, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a joint Muslim-Jewish commemoration event to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day was held at the Srebrenica Memorial Center, attended by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović.
She called the occasion “a ray of hope at a time when divisions often seem insurmountable” and said: “We must remember our obligation to act decisively against hate speech, incitement to religious violence and discrimination.” added.
In Germany, thousands of Holocaust Remembrance Day participants took part in planned events, while around 100,000 people took to the streets in the western German city of Düsseldorf to support the country’s far-right Alternative for Germany party. I protested.
Several smaller rallies were held in about 30 different cities in the vicinity. Flags in Germany were flown at half-staff to mark the day.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday publicly called on people to stand up against anti-Semitism and racism.
“‘Never again’ is the norm,” Scholz said in his weekly video address, referring to the Holocaust.
In Italy, demonstrators defied a ban on police marches during Remembrance Day and rallied in Rome, Milan and elsewhere to support Palestinian civilians killed in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s war with Hamas militants. .
“We are not here to say we are against Jews. We are here to say ‘no’ to the genocide in Gaza,” outside Rome’s Piazza Vittorio. one activist told Italy’s ANSA agency on Saturday.