2025 Holocaust Remembrance and Education

 

Jewish women and children from Subcarpathian Rus selected by the Nazi SS for death, walk toward the gas chambers of Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Death Camp (1940-1945).
Those pictured include Jolan Wollstein of Szombathely, her children Erwin, Judith, Dori and Naomi, her non-Jewish governess Edith, Henchu Mueller Falkovics, Kreindel Vogel and her sister Sase Vogel and Rita Gruenglass.
Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Yad Vashem (Public Domain)

 



Theme: Holocaust Remembrance for Dignity and Human Rights

 

2025 marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War and the Holocaust. 

Eighty years ago, in response to the atrocities of the war and the Holocaust, governments of the world established the United Nations, pledging to work together to build a just world where human rights were enshrined, and all could live with dignity, in peace.

Acknowledging the milestone year, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme has chosen as its guiding theme for 2025, “Holocaust remembrance and education for dignity and human rights”. 

The theme reflects the critical relevance of Holocaust remembrance for the present, where the dignity and human rights of our fellow global citizens are under daily attack. 

The Holocaust shows what happens when hatred, dehumanization and apathy win. 

Its remembrance is a bulwark against the denigration of humanity, and a clarion call for collective action to ensure respect for dignity and human rights, and the international law that protects both. 

Holocaust remembrance safeguards the memories of survivors and their testament of life before the Holocaust – of vibrant communities, of traditions, of hopes and dreams, of loved ones who did not survive. 

Safeguarding the history brings dignity to those the Nazis and their collaborators sought to destroy. 

Remembrance of the Holocaust is a victory against the Nazis and their collaborators, and against all who would try to continue their legacy through spreading hatred, Holocaust distortion and denial into the 21st century. 
 


 

Calendar of Events 

 

January | February | March | April 

Monday, 27 January 2025

United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony 

11:00 a.m. EST, United Nations Headquarters

The Holocaust Memorial Ceremony takes place on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 1945. The observance will be hosted by Ms. Melissa Fleming, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. Survivors of the Holocaust will share their testimonies along with invited speakers who include the United Nations Secretary-General; the President of the 79th session of the General Assembly and representatives of Member States. 
 
Download the programme and watch the recording on UN WebTVYouTube and X.

 

Thursday, 23 January 2025

Book Launch and Discussion with Professor Debórah Dwork, Author of Saints and Liars

1:00 p.m. EST, United Nations Bookshop

Saints and Liars is about Americans – Quakers, Unitarians, Jews – who travelled abroad to aid and, step by step, engaged in rescuing people targeted by Nazi Germany and other racist states. Their history illuminates the factors that trigger commitment and lays bare how rescue unfolded on the ground during the Holocaust. Zooming in on one city, one year, and one person or couple, Professor Dwork's work offers a microhistory that plumbs the key role of previously hidden factors. Saints and Liars prompts us to imagine history —all of history—as a time as full and rich as our own and reframes the way we think about, analyze, and write about the past. 

Read more

 

16 January – 21 February 2025

Exhibition: Holocaust Remembrance - A Commitment to Truth

Visitors' Lobby, United Nations Headquarters

80 years after the Holocaust ended, Holocaust remembrance remains an imperative: a haunting reminder of what happens when prejudice is left unchallenged, and dignity and rights destroyed. Through the testimony of survivors and photographs, the exhibition provides an overview of the Holocaust, the antisemitism and other factors that facilitated it and the terrible atrocities perpetrated against victims of the Nazis and their racist collaborators. The exhibition illustrates the courage of victims to resist dehumanization.  

Exhibition: Lest We Forget

Visitors' Lobby, United Nations Headquarters

This exhibition provides glimpses of moments of kindness and compassion, of life enjoyed, and of the intimate connections that existed in Jewish families and communities before the Holocaust. The photographs stand as stark evidence of the deep and terrible loss and destruction wrought by the Nazis and their racist collaborators during the Holocaust, in their attempt to destroy all trace of Jewish life, tradition, communities, homes, families and individuals. The photographs reflect the humanity of the victims of the Holocaust, and underline the scale of the destruction of the Nazis and their racist collaborators. The photographs remind us of our common humanity, and our responsibility to defend the right of all to live with dignity and in peace. 

Exhibition: Auschwitz - A Place on Earth. The Auschwitz Album

Visitors' Lobby, United Nations Headquarters

This exhibition depicts the only known visual documentation - The Auschwitz Album - of the process leading to the mass murder perpetrated by the Nazis at Auschwitz Birkenau. The Auschwitz Album is a source of invaluable evidence, a silent and powerful rebuke against the people who created and ran the death camps. This exhibit is organized by Yad Vashem and endorsed by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme and the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations.

The exhibitions are free and open to the public. No registration is required. Please visit UN Exhibits for visitor instructions. 

 

Wednesday, 29 January 2025

Film Screening and Discussion: UnBroken 

7:00 p.m. EST, Center for Jewish History, 15 W 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme together with the Center for Jewish History, will host the screening of the documentary UnBroken, followed by a panel discussion with the film's director, producer, and writer Beth Lane and her mother, Holocaust survivor, Ginger Lane, whose story of survival is featured in the film. In the film, Beth Lane embarks on an international quest to uncover answers about the plight of her mother and her mother’s six siblings who, as mere children, escaped Nazi Germany relying solely on their own youthful bravado and the kindness of German strangers. 

The screening of UnBroken is part of the Center for Jewish History's programming series Anne Frank in History and Memory and film series Holocaust History on Film: Anne Frank and Beyond in connection with Anne Frank The Exhibition. This screening is made possible by The Weber Family Arts Foundation.

Read more

 

Sunday, 2 March 2025

Film Screening and Discussion: Bau, Artist at War

3:00 p.m. EST, Center for Jewish History, 15 W 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

Bau, Artist at War is based on the true love story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau, whose wedding took place in the Plaszow concentration camp during the Second World War. Using his artistic skills and sense of humour in the camps, Joseph manages to stay alive and ultimately helps hundreds to escape. Years later, when called to be a key witness in the trial of the brutal Nazi officer who tortured him and killed his father, he is thrust back into vivid memories of the Holocaust. The screening will be followed by a conversation with writer/producer Deborah Smerecnik and Joseph Bau’s daughters Clila and Hadasa Bau, moderated by Daniel S. Mariaschin.

The screening of Bau, Artist at War is organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, together with the Center for Jewish History, as part of the film series Holocaust History on Film: Anne Frank and Beyond in connection with Anne Frank The Exhibition

Register here 

 

Monday, 3 March 2025

Film Screening and Discussion: Here Lived: The Stolpersteine Story 

7:00 p.m. EST, Center for Jewish History, 15 W 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

Here Lived through tracing the story of the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones), focuses on the families impacted by the Nazis during the Second World War and the generational trauma that atrocity precipitates. The Stolpersteine, crafted by conceptual artist Gunter Demnig are concrete blocks topped with polished brass plates that are hand stamped with the names and fates of victims of the Holocaust. These handmade stones are laid into the pavement in front of the last voluntarily chosen residence of those murdered by the Nazis. On 23 May 2023, Gunter Demnig layed the 100,000th Stolperstein. Today, Stolpersteine have been placed in 30 countries across Europe.

Documenting this extraordinary tale of resilience, remembrance, Here Lived is a timely and moving testament to the enduring power of human compassion and solidarity. The screening of the documentary will be followed by a panel discussion with producer and director Jane Wells, historian Emile Schrijver and producer Ulrika Citron.

The screening of Here Lived: The Stolpersteine Story is organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, together with the Center for Jewish History, as part of the film series Holocaust History on Film: Anne Frank and Beyond in connection with Anne Frank The Exhibition

Register here 

 

Monday, 21 April 2025

Presentation and Panel Discussion: Dedication

6:30 p.m. EDT, United Nations Headquarters

The event comprises an educational presentation by Mr. Roger Peltzman about the Holocaust and its impact, and a panel discussion. Mr. Peltzman is a pianist, educator and son of a Holocaust survivor. His storytelling presentation recounts the experience of his uncle, a young pianist murdered during the Holocaust. His uncle's history inspired Mr. Peltzman to pursue music as a way to connect with his family history and cope with second-generation survivor trauma. The event highlights the courage of victims and survivors of the Holocaust, considers the challenges they faced after the Second World War, and how the Holocaust is understood and remembered by their children.  
 



Secretary-General's Message on the International Day of Commemoration 

in memory of the victims of the Holocaust


 



Statements

Remarks by H.E. Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

Remarks by H.E. Mr. Philemon Yang, President of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly

 



Recording of the United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony