International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2017
Ahead of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and 75 years after the Wannsee conference, President Jean-Claude Juncker conveyed the following message to the Jewish community: "As the years pass and as we become further removed from those events, the stronger is our duty to stand back and take the time to remember and reflect. Our duty becomes even more compelling as every year the survivors and direct witnesses of the Holocaust become fewer and fewer, leaving the younger generations with the responsibility to carry a message that cannot lose its strength. We will not cease to say "We remember"! (…) The European Union is a project rooted in the history of the European continent and fully shares this duty of remembrance. In these challenging times, memory is not only a reminder of the past, it is a compass for the future to not repeat the same mistakes and to not fall into the same traps like we have done so by allowing discrimination and hatred to spread. (…) Today, when "fake news" are easily spread, there cannot be any complacency regarding Holocaust denials. This applies regardless of the forms in which they are disguised (…). In the face of rising Antisemitism and other types of hatred, in the face of a resurgence of incidents incited by violence, the European Commission is determined to prevent and combat Antisemitism in all its forms and to ensure that Jews can lead the lives they want to live in Europe."
High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini underlined, inter alia, in her statement published on 26 January that: "We have a responsibility to remember: a responsibility towards the victims, towards the survivors. A responsibility towards the future generations. And a responsibility towards Europe, and all European citizens."
More information:
Message by President Jean-Claude Juncker on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance day 2017:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-17-148_en.htm
Statement by High Representative Federica Mogherini ahead of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2017: