Announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the 27th of January, is a day of remembrance and recollection by the international community for the millions of Jews, the hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti and others who perished brutally in the hands of Nazi barbarism, for no other reason than their religion and ethnicity, in an act of atrocity that has forever tarnished the history of humanity.
On the 27th of January, the day that the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp was liberated, the Republic of Cyprus joins everyone around the world in tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. It is our obligation to ensure this message resonates loud and clear: we shall not forget. Cyprus also pays tribute to the survivors and salutes all those who fought against the unspeakable darkness and hatred that engulfed Europe in the Holocaust’s barbarism and mass murder.
Regrettably, Antisemitism and Holocaust denial continue to plague humanity and as such require concerted international action in order to be tackled effectively. Conspiracy-minded revisionism and denials of historical truth cannot and must not be tolerated in any shape or form.
Cyprus, a place of internment for more than 50,000 survivors of the Holocaust, became a temporary, albeit safe haven in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The horror of the Holocaust has thereby left a permanent mark in the collective conscience of the island. Cyprus formally joined last year the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as an observer and is implementing relevant policies at national level. These include adopting the IHRA definition for Antisemitism and providing education to teachers in cooperation with Yad Vashem, mainstreaming thusly invaluable lessons in the educational system. Indicative of our determination to continue this path of policy implementation, is yesterday’s decision by the Council of Ministers, to formally adopt the IHRA working definition of Holocaust denial and distortion.
By remembering the horrors of the Holocaust and preserving its memory, the international community reaffirms its collective duty to prevent the recurrence of such heinous crimes and to work tirelessly against denial and oblivion.