UN Secretary leads International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Memorial services and ceremonies take place at the UN, led by the UN Secretary, in Britain, the EU and other parts of the world Monday, Jan. 27 for international Holocaust Remembrance Day on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet forces in 1945.  In 2005, the UN marked the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and proclaimed this day the International Day of Remembrance, with events hosted at UN Center headed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and across Europe, especially Britain.

Sixty Israel Knesset Members lawmakers head to Poland Monday for the joint Israeli-Polish ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau, to be joined by survivors and lawmakers from France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Poland and the UK. The US delegation will be led by House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), who will be joined by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) and Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina). Canadian Minister for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney also plans to attend.

The Shoah remains the largest known systematic genocide of any single race. It claimed the lives of six million Jewish men, women and children. Yad Vashem was presented by UNESCO with a Certificate of Recognition signifying the inclusion of the Pages of Testimony Memorial Collection in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.