January 27 - International Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Khatia Bzhalava

Thursday, January 28

International Holocaust Remembrance Day - an international memorial day commemorating the end of the tragedy of the Holocaust that was occurring during the Second World War.

Yesterday, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the world honored those murdered in the holocaust tragedy. A genocide, committed by the Nazi government against Jews, Roma, Soviet captives, black people, and other minorities in Europe, took place Between 1933 and 1945. The number of Jews killed as a result of the genocide exceeds 6 million. In 2005, The United Nations declared January 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day and called on states to work to raise awareness of Holocaust atrocities. Yesterday, Georgian officials, including the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, Mayor of Tbilisi Kakhi Kaladze, and the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Archil Talakvadze joined the rest of the world and paid tribute to the Holocaust victims.

The Consul of the Israeli Embassy to Georgia visited the residence of the President of Georgia, where Zurabishvili hosted the ceremony dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Public Defender of Georgia, the Tolerance Center of the Public Defender, the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized an online meeting to discuss the historical path and the consequences of the Holocaust. During the meeting, speeches were delivered by Nino Lomjaria, Public Defender of Georgia, Natalia Voutova, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Ran Gidor, Ambassador of Israel to Georgia, and Adam Schmidt, Director of the Democracy, Rights and Governance Office, USAID/Georgia.

According to the Ombudsman’s statement, during the online event, the participants talked about the possibilities of condemning each expression of anti-Semitism and recalled interesting and important facts about the coexistence of the Georgian and Jewish people. They also talked about the importance of tolerance, measures to eliminate anti-Semitic attitudes, and the benefits of the coexistence of different people in the world. The event was also attended by representatives of academia, local and international organizations, students, and other stakeholders.