Published: January 23, 2012
UN Holds Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony
By Mina Fabulous 
The United Nations today hold a remembrance service to honour the memory of the estimated six million Jews and countless others killed in the Nazi death camps during the Second World War.
The world's body also urged the international community the need to protect children from the scourges of war.
"One and a half million Jewish children perished. Tens of thousands of others were murdered, including people with disabilities, as well as Roma and Sinti." - Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
At the Holocaust Remembrance Service at the Park East Synagogue in New York, Mr. Ban stated that many died of starvation or disease. He said many others were orphaned by the war, or ripped away from their families.
Jews captured and forcibly pulled out from dugouts by the Germans during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The photo is from Jurgen Stroop's report to Heinrich Himmler. Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
"Children are uniquely vulnerable to the worst of humankind. We must show them the best this world has to offer." - Mr.
On 27 January, the United Nations will observe the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust with a ceremony in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at New York Headquarters. The observance will honour the 6 million Jews and countless numbers of minorities who suffered discrimination, deprivation and murder during the Nazi regime.
This year, the theme of the memorial ceremony is "An Authentic Basis for Hope: Holocaust Remembrance and Education", in reference to the new initiatives in the development of national Holocaust curricula and cooperative projects that are helping to promote human rights and respect for diversity around the world
The events include film screenings, exhibits and talks, as well as the launch of a website offering videos and testimonials from over a thousand Holocaust survivors.
Jews and others frequently use the term Shoah, Hebrew for "catastrophe," to refer to the Holocaust. After the start of World War II, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler created forced-labor and death camps throughout Europe to execute the "final solution of the Jewish question." The Nazis persecuted other groups they deemed racially 'inferior,' including Gypsies, the physically and mentally disabled, gays and lesbians, Soviet prisoners of war, Poles, communists and numerous minority groups. The Nazi regime initially constructed forced-labor camps to imprison Jews, but as early as 1941 built extermination camps designed solely for the quick and efficient mass murder of Jews and others.
Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain english. Contact Mina through NewsBlaze.
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