In line with its “positive pedagogy” approach, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation commemorates this day celebrating the awe-inspiring courage of the rescuers, thousands of women and men who opted not to stand idly by but rather reached out to those in need.
President Reuven Rivlin hosts world leaders at the World Holocaust Forum, Janu– Photo: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash 90 This unprecedented gathering was attended by over 50 members of royalty, heads of state, prime ministers and parliamentary leaders from all around the world. Last year, for instance, in the very beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, the day was commemorated in Jerusalem, under the auspices of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation, Yad Vashem and at the invitation of President Reuven Rivlin. Since then, January 27 is observed by numerous countries and organizations. The intention of the UN was to create a universal day to commemorate one of the darkest chapters of humankind, which resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and some 11 million others by the Nazi regime and its henchmen. Since his inexplicable abduction, the 32-year old Swede vanished from the face of the earth and most likely executed following Stalin’s orders.
Quite ironically, 10 days before the liberation, on January 17, 1945, the Soviet military, in Debrecen, Hungary, arrested Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who had saved tens of thousands of Jewish lives since his arrival in Budapest, on July 9, 1945. On November 1, 2005, the 42 nd plenary session of the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 60/7, designating January 27 as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.Ħ0 years earlier, on January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the largest death factory designed by the Nazis. THE BLOGS Baruch Tenembaum A day to remember victims and rescuers