Date/Time and Location
In November 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to assign January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. January 27 marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous and deadliest concentration camps of the Holocaust. The UN General Assembly designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day with the mission to serve as a date to officially honor the victims of Nazism and promote Holocaust education throughout the world.
The Holocaust was founded on the ideology of hatred and antisemitism. Nazism’s influence inflated in 1933 and grew more radical until liberations began in 1945. During this time, Nazi Germany and its allies mass murdered six million Jewish victims and millions of other victims. Nearly two out of every three European Jews were killed from Nazi Germany’s use of deadly living conditions, mass shootings, torture, and gassings at designated killing centers also known as concentration camps.
The UN resolution 60/7 that designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day also strictly rejects any form of Holocaust denial, encourages member states to preserve sites that the Nazis used during the “Final Solution,” and condemns “religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief” throughout the world.
Every year, it is encouraged to take January 27th as a day to develop educational programs and raise awareness of the Holocaust and other international genocides. The goal of education and awareness is to properly honor victims of Nazism and help prevent future devastation from genocides.
Commemoration
Every year since 2010, the UN Headquarters’ commemorations are focused on a new educational theme. The specific themes focus on topics such as collective experiences and universal human rights.