“Passage of this historic resolution sends a clear message to the world that the Holocaust is history’s unforgettable fact”

International March of the Living President Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and Chairman Dr. Shmuel Rosenman said today in Washington and Tel Aviv:

“As we continue our efforts to educate the next generation on the history of the Shoah and the perilous danger of antisemitism, International March of the Living expresses its gratitude to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan and to UN member states on the passage of this important resolution condemning the destructive wave of Holocaust distortion and denial afflicting our world.

“Passage of this historic resolution honors those Holocaust survivors gratefully still with us, dignifies those who senselessly perished and sends a clear message to the world that the Holocaust is history’s unforgettable fact.”

“We were convinced antisemitism perished here [in Auschwitz-Birkenau]. Antisemitism did not perish here. Its victims perished here,” said Elie Wiesel on Yom HaShoah 1990 during the International March of the Living in Poland.

“Sadly, Elie Wiesel’s eloquent words, shared with young March of the Living participants over three decades ago, are no less true today. They are more relevant than ever as antisemitism, Holocaust denial and trivialization, as well as the demonization of Israel, regularly dominate news cycles and give rise to a grave sense of insecurity among Jewish communities around the world.

“Only by acknowledging the reality of the past, and committing to learning the lessons of the Holocaust, can we hope to build a world safe for all humanity, free of antisemitism and all forms of racism, bigotry, hatred and intolerance.”

International March of the Living is proud to have hosted over 100 UN Ambassadors from 60 countries around the globe on five separate delegations to both Poland and Israel. During these meaningful journeys, these representatives of the world’s most influential body were personally introduced to and benefitted from firsthand Holocaust education and survivor testimony.

With fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors able to share their story, there is a universal fear that history will re-write itself: “When there are no longer Holocaust survivors on earth, Holocaust deniers will sprout up like mushrooms” worries Israeli survivor Aliza Landau. And as the words of Auschwitz survivor Henry Appel so succinctly remind us: “There is only one thing worse than Auschwitz itself … and that is if the world forgets there was such a place.”