Martyrdom & Resistance, January/February 2006

ID Transcript mare3203_01 "Vol. 32-N0.3 ISSN 0893-1571 January/February 2006-Tevet/Shevat 5766 UNITED NATIONS HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY The United Nations Department of Public Information held the first universal observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust under the theme ""Remembrance and Beyond"" at United Nations Headquarters on 27 January from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. The day designated by the General Assembly, 27 January, is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. About 2,000 people - Holocaust survivors, their family and friends, UN staff members and the public - gathered in New York to mark this historic occasion. Shashi Tharoor, United Nations Under- Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, introduced a program that began with a message from Secretary-General Kofi Annan in which he said, ""Today, for the first time, we mark the Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. That event in history must be remembered with shame and horror. By remembering these events, we can pay tribute to those who died. We must never forget the men, women and children who perished. Holocaust denial is the work of bigots and must be rebutted. We must recall the origins of hate, bigotry and anti-Semitism. We must be vigilant in the present. the United Nations to officially commemorate the Holocaust on January 27tn. He spoke of the 6 million lives which were cut short by the Holocaust. He pointed out that as a result we will never know ""what symphonies were not written, diseases not cured and discoveries not made."" Mr. Tharoor went on to say that the whole world was diminished and has cause to mourn and remember. Lessons must be drawn to oppose tyranny and respect human rights, he went on to say. Today we Ambassador Dan Gillerman, Permanent Representative of honor those who perished Israel to the United Nations, addressing the capacity crowd at needlessly. Remember what first United Nations International Day of Commemoration in these people could have memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Remembrance must be carried on by the next generation through the International Day of Commemoration. Let us pledge ourselves to prevent such crimes in the future."" Mr. Tharoor reminded the hundreds of people in attendance that the United Nations was built on the ashes of the Holocaust and it was an historic step for done. Foster respect. A statement by the President of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly was read by the acting President, Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations. In the remarks he stated that the United Nations rejects all denial of the Holocaust in full or in part. We must CHILDHOOD TURNED UNTHINKABLE No Child's Play, a traveling exhibit produced by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, opened to the public on 24 January 2006 in the South Gallery of the General Assembly Visitors' Lobby at the United Nations. This Yad Vashem exhibit opens a window into the world of children during the Holocaust. It focuses on toys, games, artwork, diaries and poems, highlighting some of the personal stories of the children and providing a glimpse into their lives during the Holocaust. Eli Zborowski, Chairman American and International Societies for Yad Vashem, Yehudit Inbar, Director of the Museums Division and Curator of the ""No Child's Play"" exhibit, Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem, Eugen Gluck, Vice Chairman of the American and International Societies for Yad Vashem and Melvin Bukiet, Member of the Executive Committee, American and International Societies for Yad Vashem and Professor at Sara Lawrence College, standing in front of a picture of Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, as he arrived in Israel after having survived the Holocaust, at the opening of the Yad Vashem exhibit, ""No Child's Play"" Over 1.5 million children were murdered as part of the Nazis' genocidal project, according to information in the exhibit. Many of the photographs are of artifacts IN THIS ISSUE United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Day. 1 Childhood turned unthinkable 1,8 Book reviews 4 Children and the Holocaust 5 Survivors' Corner. 6 New wave of anti-Semitism casts dark cloud across globe ....7 Holocaust still on the German mind 9 Report from Yad Vashem .....10 Report from American Society for Yad Vashem 12 Germany shines new light on Holocaust Bureaucracy. 15 from temporary havens, such as children's homes or family areas of death camps, from which the young were taken to be killed. Others belonged to some of the few thousand survivors who managed to hide in Christian homes or isolated areas. The exhibition tells the story of survival - the struggle of these children to hold on to life. These and other personal effects give a glimpse of childhood turned unthinkable during the horrors of the Holocaust The exhibit is part of a series of activities leading up to 27 January, which has been designated by the General Assembly as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the vic- (Continued on page 8) remain vigilant and we must remember the lessons of the Holocaust. Today we pay tribute to the victims, and honor the Survivors. Statements were also be made by Ambassador Dan Gillerman, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, and Holocaust survivor Gerda Klein, who was introduced by Roman Kent, Chairman of the American Gathering of Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust. The program included the first lecture in a proposed annual series on the theme ""Remembrance and Beyond"" by Professor Yehuda Bauer, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem and the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. This first observance marked a major step in a broader program of outreach on the Holocaust and the United Nations by the Department of Public Information, and is designed to encourage remembrance of and education about the Holocaust, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide. Photo by Luiz R. Rampelotto, HOTNYC International News Agency HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS WARN U.N. ON TODAY'S GENOCIDES BY DANIEL TROTTA Survivors commemorated the Holocaust at the United Nations with harrowing accounts of the period and pleas to halt acts of genocide like that of Darfur today. The ceremony marked the first of what is to become an annual U.N. event and took place in the General Assembly hall, where 191 world governments daily debate current atrocities that experts compared to the Holocaust. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others denounced those who deny the Holocaust as bigots. Separate from the ceremony, Iran issued a statement accusing Israel of manipulating genocide for political purposes. Survivors and experts stressed the importance of never forgetting that the Germans systematically killed six million Jews and millions of others including Poles, homosexuals, Russians, Gypsies and Catholics during World War II. ""If you the leaders of the world remember - and teach others to remember - the Holocaust and atrocities like Darfur, Biafra and Kosovo will have no place on the face of the earth,"" said Roman Kent, chairman of the American Gathering of Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust. Added researcher Yehuda Bauer: ""The Jews were the specific victims of the (Continued on page 10) "