International Holocaust Remembrance Day 27 January 2020
Press release
27 January 2020Statement by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D. on the occasion of
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2020
Every year, on 27 January, the world remembers the millions of innocent men, women and children who perished during the Holocaust. This year is particularly significant as we mark the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
Last week in Brussels, 34 countries including Ireland adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Declaration. We recommitted to our shared vision of a world that is committed to remembering the Holocaust and a world without genocide.
As we move further away from the horrors of the Holocaust, and there are fewer and fewer survivors left to testify to what happened, it is vital that we pass on this knowledge of the horrors inflicted on humanity. We cannot overestimate how important it is to educate ourselves about the Holocaust; to ensure that such an atrocity is never allowed to occur again. Hatred and prejudice have no place in today’s society.
I launched the Mary Elmes Prize in Holocaust Studies for Transition Year students last September. The prize, an initiative of Holocaust Education Trust Ireland and the History Teachers Associations of Ireland, is named after Mary Elmes, recognised posthumously by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among Nations in for saving hundreds of Jewish children in France from the Holocaust. Her remarkable bravery and courage was also remembered by the people of her home city of Cork, when they voted last year to name their newest bridge in her honour.
This year is particularly significant. Today our President, will stand alongside other world leaders at the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau to mark the 75th anniversary of its liberation and that of the other concentration camps.
ENDS
Press Office
27 January 2020
|
