“Our commitment must be to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity's common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice.”
-- Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust
“Our commitment must be to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity's common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice.”
-- Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust
The following statement was endorsed by the 27 member States of the ITF at the Plenary session in Trondheim, Norway, on 3 December 2009
The Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF) has registered that statements have been made during the current health care debate in the US making inappropriate references to the Holocaust in an attempt to influence the political deliberations. The Chair of the ITF condemns these statements as they trivialize the history and memory of the victims of the Holocaust which must be held sacred for future generations.
As the ITF Chair I am appalled by and condemn the President of Iran's statement of 18 September 2009 denying the reality of the Holocaust. Make no mistake: Holocaust denial is not merely a radical and baseless form of historical revisionism, but a form of antisemitic hate speech. It is aimed not just at Israel or Zionism but at inciting hatred against Jews everywhere.
With great concern, the ITF Chair has become aware of recent statements made by members of Hamas regarding efforts of the United Nations to introduce education about the Holocaust into the Gaza school system.
The following statement is issued by the Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF), Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, in conjunction with the resolution passed by the European Parliament on 2 April 2009, determining 23 August, the date on which in 1939 the infamous Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement was signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as a date of remembrance to victims of both regimes.
After extensive consultations, the ITF Chair has authorized the ITF's Permanent Office to transmit the following statement:
In recent weeks, certain individuals and institutions have publically questioned Norway's suitability to chair the "Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF)". The reason for this is Norway's commemoration this year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun.
Statement of the Chair of the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, Ambassador Tom Vraalsen, Holocaust Era Assets Conference, Prague, 28 June 2009.
The Belgian Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is deeply shocked by the parade of a fake Nazi railcar during the Aalst Carnival.