Holocaust remembrance conference: Remembering the past. Shaping the future.

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE CONFERENCE:

Remembering the past. Shaping the future.

The European Commission marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau by hosting the Holocaust Remembrance Conference: Remembering the past. Shaping the future, in partnership with the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, on 21 January 2025.

Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner delievered a video message at the conference and stated:

"Our future and the future of our democracy depends very much on our collective ability to remember and learn from the past. We cannot let conflicts today become an excuse to distort our own history or minimize those darkest times in Europe's history."

Hon. Mala Tribish, MBE, Holocaust Survivor, shared her testimony in a conversation with Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, Secretary of State, of Poland, and Raya Kalenova, Executive Vice-President and CEO of the European Jewish Congress, also addressed the conference. 

EU Young Ambassadors for the promotion of Holocaust remembrance, members of the Neshama project led by Mémorial de la Shoah, from Croatia, France, Germany and Poland, read excerpt and poetry from writing on the Holocaust. Musical interludes included pieces composed in the Ravensbrück camp and Lodz ghetto. 

The conference ended with a commemoration ceremony where Rabbi Olivier Kaufmann recited El Malech Rachamim and the Kaddish and candles were lit in memory of the six million Jews, men, women, children and babies, who perished during Shoah, as well as for the other victims of the Holocaust, including the Roma, the disabled and the LGBTI community. 

This conference was organised in cooperation with the World Jewish Congress, European Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee Transatlantic Institute, B’nai B’rith International, Conference of European Rabbis, European Jewish Association, European Jewish Community Center, European Union of Jewish Students, European Union of Progressive Judaism, Hias Europe and Masorti Europe.