“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
Denmark Commemorates 2 October
22.10.2013
On 2 October, The Royal Danish Theatre hosted a special performance to commemorate the rescue of more than 7,000 Jews in Denmark 70 years ago. The event was attended by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II and the Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation bestowed the "Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Medal" to the Danish people. The award was conferred to Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt, on behalf of the Danish heroes.
The special performance was a mosaic of Danish, German and other international artists and also offered a variety of magnificent musical performances containing the works of Beethoven, van Westhoff, Schulhoff and Schønberg.
Humanity in Action Denmark also commemorated the 70th anniversary with a series of events throughout the country, including a teaching seminar and an international conference. Publications of an anthology on civil courage, civil society, and the Holocaust and a collection of historical sources from the persecution of Danish Jews during September and October 1943 were also planned.
The conference, books and educational offers were organized by representatives from Humanity in Action, the Danish Jewish Community, the Danish Institute for International Studies’ Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the Danish Jewish Museum and Danish historical research.
Behind the initiative is a committee consisting of former chief rabbi Bent Melchior, chairman of the Danish Jewish Community Finn Schwartz, senior research associate at the Danish Institute for Human Rights Eva Maria Lassen, museum keeper at the Danish Jewish Museum Sofie Lene Bak, advocate of the Supreme Court Per Magid, leader of Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Cecilie Stockholm Banke, historians Hans Kirchhoff and Otto Rühl, and chairman for Humanity in Action Denmark Anders Jerichow. Cecilie Stockholm Banke and Otto Rühl are members of the Danish delegation to IHRA.
For more information about the events (in Danish and English), please click here.