Numerous activities take place this year to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. To many of us, it can feel strange these days. We are remembering and talking about a calamity that took place eighty years ago while finding ourselves in very troubled times again. It is true that in some ways humanity may be doing better than ever before, for instance in reducing child mortality. But we are facing huge and urgent problems in many other areas such as the climate crisis, the public health emergency, and the increasing polarization and violence in public debates and polemics. To see anti-democratic tendencies, hate speech, xenophobia and antisemitism on the march, its proponents waving away the warnings from those familiar with how the Holocaust began, namely with dangerous words, can be profoundly disturbing. As if this were not enough, one of the very regions where the Nazis and their associates shot Jews to death, is again living under a dark cloud of a potential war.
As before, however, we carry on, from a conviction that improving how humans treat each other must involve a determined effort to increase everyone’s understanding of the evil which humans have inflicted upon groups singled out as enemies. If mass murder with this intensity and scale did happen once, with some variation it can happen again.
EHRI’s work is and will remain relevant. What we have achieved so far, has made an impact. That is also why its partner institutions and friends are more motivated than ever. Best wishes to all of you, within EHRI or elsewhere, who are involved in Holocaust remembrance, education and research.
Karel Berkhoff and Reto Speck, Project Directors EHRI
