Rwanda Pauses to Observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day

On 27 January, the world paused to commemorate the International Holocaust Day, precisely the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious of the Nazi death camps.

Holocaust survivors, politicians and regular citizens commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday, gathering at events held across the world to reflect on the killing of millions of people by Nazi Germany.

In Rwanda, at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, different envoys gathered to observe the International Holocaust Day.

To open the ceremony, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, together with Holocaust survivor Mr. Lyonell Fliss, the Israel envoy to Rwanda,Germany ambassador to Rwanda, and UN envoy to Rwanda, laid wreaths at the burial place at Kigali Genocide Memorial, honouring the victims of the Holocaust and the Genocide against the Tutsi.

“We observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day, honouring the victims of the Holocaust. Under the theme “Bridging Generations,” said Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister.

He added, “we reflected on the lessons of the past to help shape a world free from hate, discrimination, dehumanisation and genocide.”

Meanwhile, at the memorial site of Auschwitz, located in an area of southern Poland which was under German occupation during World War II, former prisoners laid flowers and wreaths at a wall where German forces executed thousands of prisoners.

Candles burned and white roses were placed at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a field of 2,700 grey concrete slabs near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, which honours the 6 million victims and stands as a powerful symbol of Germany’s remorse.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2005 establishing the day as an annual commemoration.