International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorated on 27 January 2011

grandparents perished in the Holocaust and his father, George, is a Holocaust survivor.

Mr Dreyfus spoke about the importance of bearing witness and remembering as the generation who lived through the Holocaust grows smaller every year. Bearing witness, he said, requires us to learn as much as we can from our parents and grandparents and the few Holocaust survivors who remain, and to remember those terrible events. It is only by bearing witness and remembering that we can identify the actions and the conduct against which we must fight. He noted the Government’s incorporation of the study of the Holocaust in the new national secondary school history curriculum, but called on Australia to give formal recognition to this day of remembrance as other countries have done.

‘Our ideals and aspirations commit us to fighting against oppression, to preventing genocide, to providing refuge to people in need. We committed to these aims in founding the United Nations, in joining the Refugee Convention and the Genocide Convention in the years immediately after the Holocaust. We would further those commitments by doing more to remember the Holocaust. We do further those commitments, on this International Holocaust Memorial Day, by saying, together, “Never again”,’ he said.

Over 300 people attended the commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, organised by the Jewish Holocaust Centre at the City of Glen Eira Town Hall. The audience included representatives of non-government organisations, Jewish community organisations, Federal, State and local government, and diplomats representing the governments of Japan, Germany and Poland.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on 27 January, is the first universal commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. It was designated by a United Nations General Assembly Resolution on 1 November 2005. Sixty-six years ago, on 27 January 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. The UN resolution urges membernations to honour the memory of Holocaust victims, and encourages the development of educational programs about Holocaust history to help prevent future acts of genocide. It rejects any denial of the Holocaust and condemns all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief. It also calls for actively preserving the Holocaust sites, as well as promoting Holocaust remembrance and education.

The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP, Federal Member for Isaacs, Cabinet Secretary and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, presented the keynote address at the function. His German-born great-

The evening concluded with the lighting of six candles to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and of other genocides. Candles were lit by Lusia Haberfeld, a Holocaust survivor and survivor guide at the Jewish Holocaust Centre; The Hon Dr George Luk-Kozika, the Polish Consul-General; Zac Chester of Access Inc, an organisation helping to integrate people with disabilities into the Jewish community; Michael Barnett, president of Aleph Melbourne, a social and support Jewish organisation for gays and lesbians; Peter Jasonides, representing the Federation of Pontian Associations of Australia; and Andrew Kostanski, the son of the late Jan Kostanski, a Polish Gentile honoured by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, together with Babikir Abdalla, representing the Darfur community.