The Embassy of Israel together with the United Nations, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Delegation of the European Union marked the International Day of the Commemoration of the Victims of the Holocaust on 27 January 2017. A special event was organized to remember the six million people killed during the Holocaust between 1939 to 1945.
The Honourable Mr. Jeewan Bahadur Shahi, Chief Guest for the event expressed his condolences to the victims of the Holocaust and hoped that the youth will raise their voices against inhumanity, racism and inequality to stop such happenings in the future.
H.E. Mr. Yaron Mayer, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal said, “Since this year’s Holocaust theme is educating for better future, lets universally educate young generations about the Holocaust and try to promote moral education and a world free of intolerance”.
Mrs. Valarie Julliand, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations to Nepal, read the message of the United Nations Secretary General during the event. Ambassadors from Germany and the Delegation of the European Union also spoke about the Holocaust.
A memorial prayer was read at the beginning of the event. Six candles were lit as per the Jewish tradition one candle representing one million. This is the third consecutive year that an event of this magnitude was organized in Nepal to mark the Holocaust. This event has been an important milestone in spreading the message of tolerance and fighting against racism.
The event was followed by a theatre performance “The Diary of Anne Frank” by One World Theater artists directed by Deborah Merola. The play will open for the general public on 30 January and 1 February at Hotel Vajra and will then shift to Yala Maya Kendra (dates will be informed soon).
Apart from the play, “To Bear Witness” a collection of posters taken from the Yad Vashem –The Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem is also on display at both the venues during the play. These posters present the subject of the Holocaust through historical events, figures, places, and concepts. These include, among others, the rise of Nazism, the formation of the ghetto, deportation, the camps, the Warsaw Ghetto revolt and liberation.
Editor’s Note:
The Diary of Anne Frank is based on the published diaries of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who went into hiding with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Anne secretly kept a diary, a gift for her 13th birthday, during the time they were in hiding. The diary abruptly ends in August 1944 when their families were discovered and deported to Nazi concentration camps. Anne’s diary was discovered by their Dutch friends, kept safe and given to her father after the war. He was the only survivor of the eight in hiding. The Diary of Anne Frank was opened in New York City in 1955, only ten years after Anne’s death. She has become a symbol of all the young people whose lives were cut short in the Nazi death camps.