AFI CHANGEMAKERS AT THE UN HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE

especially painful. Zionist activity intensified. “Wear it with pride,” journalist Robert Weltsch wrote in 1933 of the Jewish identity the Nazis had so stigmatized. Religious philosopher Martin Buber led an effort at Jewish adult education, preparing the community for the long journey ahead. Rabbi Leo Baeck circulated a prayer for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) in 1935 that instructed Jews on how to behave: “We bow down before God; we stand erect before man.” Yet while few, if any, could foresee its eventual outcome, the Jewish condition was increasingly perilous and was expected to worsen. Many of the Jews fled to Palestine, where the small Jewish community was willing to receive refugees. Still others sought refuge in neighbouring European countries. Most countries, however, were unwilling to receive large numbers of refugees.

Responding to domestic pressures to act on behalf of Jewish refugees, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt convened, but did not attend, the Évian Conference on resettlement, in Évian-les-Bains, France, in July 1938. In his invitation to government leaders, Roosevelt specified that they would not have to change laws or spend government funds; only philanthropic funds would be used for resettlement. Britain was assured that Palestine would not be on the agenda.

Holocaust denial and distortion find their way into the mainstream, and spread on social media, there is an urgent need that education systems adapt to these growing challenges, to confront Holocaust misinformation, contemporary antisemitism and to safeguard the historical record of the genocide of the Jews. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a new resolution on Holocaust Denial on 20 January, the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference which laid the ground for the systematic murder of European Jews by the German Nazi regime. It urges all Member States to “reject without any reservation” any denial or distortion of the Holocaust as a historical event. The resolution acknowledges UNESCO’s work to address Holocaust distortion and denial and calls upon Member States to develop educational programs to advance knowledge about the history of the Holocaust and to prevent future genocides.

To prevent a repetition of the Holocaust, then there is a need for the Media, Civil Societies, Non-Governmental Agencies, and the government to create awareness on the Holocaust History and ways to curb Anti-Semitism in the world.

Youth organizations should take awareness and education to the classrooms for the younger generations. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has made available some materials on Anti-Semitism teachings and History. UNESCO on the other hand, created in 2015, an International Program on Holocaust and Genocide Education, with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. UNESCO also counters Holocaust denial and distortion on social media and in 2021, UNESCO, the World Jewish Congress and Facebook reached an agreement to redirect users searching for terms related to the Holocaust or Holocaust denial to