In the framework of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, UNESCO is organizing a series of events, roundtables and exhibitions, running over the course of the week -- from the premiere screening of the documentary of William Karel, “Annihilation, the Destruction of Europe's Jews” to a concert by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. The commemoration draws on the extensive programme of activities carried out for many years by UNESCO to disseminate Holocaust education across the world, which is also a way to fight against the resurgence of anti-Semitism today.

Concert of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

The Concert of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Frédéric Chaslin :

• Ode to Peace, by Frédéric Chaslin
• Symphony No 13 in B flat minor  (op. 113, « Babi Yar »), by Dmitri Chostakovitch (Based on poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko)
• Suite yiddish by Norbert Glanzberg

Exhibition : Shoah by Bullets:10 years of investigations

For 10 years, the French Yahad-In-Unum Association has been investigating massacres of Jews perpetrated by Nazi units, especially the Einsatzgruppen, in Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, the Republic of Moldova, Poland and the Ukraine. Yahad collects testimonies of witnesses of these crimes who were then children and teenagers.  Most had never before spoken of these crimes.

Each of these investigations is based on extensive research in the Soviet and German archives. Village after village, Yahad documents the crime and gathers evidence of the killings.

Arrival of French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve

Official Ceremony

A ceremony dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust victims started at 7.30pm (Room I) in the presence of UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova; President of the Shoah Memorial, Eric de Rothschild; French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Henryka Mościcka-Dendys; and Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Israel to UNESCO, Carmel Shama Hacohen.