The film Woman in Gold will be featured at the United Nations in New York in January 2016 to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Directed by Simon Curtis, Woman in Gold is the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family.  Sixty years after she fled Vienna during the Second World War, Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), an elderly Jewish woman, starts her journey to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt's famous painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.  Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), she embarks upon a major battle that takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the United States Supreme Court, and forces her to confront difficult truths about the past along the way.

The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, in partnership with the World Jewish Congress and the Weinstein Company, will organize the film screening and discussion that will shed light on the loss of personal property and humiliation that Jewish families endured in Nazi-occupied Europe, and how difficult it has been for them to attain justice.  Participants will gain insight into the desperate situation faced by the victims of the Holocaust under a reign of terror and the complete breakdown of fair legal practice.  For many families, the plunder of art and personal assets remains one of many unsolved transgressions committed by the Nazis.

Under the theme “The Holocaust and Human Dignity”, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme will hold several other events to mark the International Day during Holocaust remembrance week in January 2016, including the opening of two exhibitions: “The Holocaust by Bullets” (25 January) and “Life after Survival” (26 January); the annual United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony (27 January); and a briefing for non-governmental organizations, “The Future of Holocaust Education” (28 January).  For more information, please visit http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance.

The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme

The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme was established by General Assembly resolution 60/7 in 2006 in order to further education about and remembrance of the Holocaust and thereby help prevent future acts of genocide.  Its multifaceted programme includes online and print educational products, seminars, exhibitions, a film series and the annual worldwide observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, held every 27 January.

For further information, please contact Kimberly Mann, Chief, Education Outreach, United Nations Department of Public Information, at e-mail: mann@un.org.  For information on the film, please contact Brad Thompson at e-mail:  brad.thompson@weinsteinco.com.

For media accreditation, please contact the United Nations Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit through its website at www.un.org/en/media/accreditation.