Photo by Erica Magugliani on Unsplash
International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January) will be marked this week with a series of special events.
These kicked off on Tuesday when the European Commission hosted an international conference, ‘Remembering the past. Shaping the future’ in Brussels.
The conference was opened by Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas.
It was organised by the Commission in partnership with the Belgian Presidency of the Council, the Croatian Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and major civil society groups.
During the event, Schinas announced the establishment of the ‘Network of places where the Holocaust happened’, a flagship initiative of the 2021 EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life.
Speaking on Tuesday ahead of the event, Schinas stated: “As fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors remain among us to share firsthand accounts, sites and places where the Holocaust happened become ever more important to preserve the memory and the lessons of the Shoah.”
“The Europe-wide “Network of places where the Holocaust happened” will increase awareness among local population that the Holocaust did not happen only in concentration camps, but also locally, in towns and cities across Europe, as many stood by,” he added.
On Wednesday, the Commission also holds its 5th EC Working Group on the implementation of the EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life.
It gathers EU Member States’ representatives and Jewish communities and discusses progress made regarding national strategies on combating antisemitism.
Meanwhile, Irene Shashar, a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, will address MEPs in Brussels on Thursday.
Born on 12 December 1937 as Ruth Lewkowicz, Shashar is one of the few living survivors of the Warsaw ghetto.
After her father was killed by the Nazis she escaped the ghetto with her mother through the sewers to another part of Warsaw where she was a “hidden child” for the rest of war. She and her mother then moved to Paris.
After her mother’s death, she moved to Peru where she was adopted by relatives.
After studying in the US, she moved to Israel at the age 25 and became the youngest faculty member to hold a post at the Hebrew University.
Today she lives in Modiin, Israel and, in 2023 Shashar published her biography “I won against Hitler”.
