New Zealanders are gathering around the country today to remember the Holocaust with the sad new realisation that New Zealand isn’t immune to racial hatred and violence, the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand says.

Today’s United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks 75 years since the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.

Holocaust Centre chair Deborah Hart said today’s commemoration come at a time when the Jewish community and many other ethnic minorities are anxious about growing racism in New Zealand and around the world.

“This hatred is fed by old stereotypes and newer prejudices. The horrific attack on Christchurch mosques was felt deeply by the Jewish community. When Police closed Synagogues on the Sabbath for the first time in New Zealand’s history the following day, Jewish people gathered in homes and prayed for their Muslim whanau.

“Today as we remember the murder of six million Jews – including 1.5 million Jewish children – the lessons of the Holocaust are more important than ever. Remembering the Holocaust teaches us we must fight antisemitism, intolerance and hatred through education.”

Deborah Hart sayd a recent report on freedom of religion or belief released by UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed “stresses that antisemitism, if left unchecked by governments, poses risks not only to Jews, but also to members of other minority communities”.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is attending today’s commemoration service in Auckland where she will have the opportunity to meet with some of New Zealand’s remaining survivors.

Jacinda Ardern says the Holocaust teaches us that we must reject bigotry and hatred.

“There is a unifying power of interfaith and intercultural understanding, which we saw after March 15. We know the danger of seeing people based on what they look like, and what religion they are.

“We must look at one another with humanity and kindness. We must counter acts of brutality and violence with compassion and empathy.”

Holocaust survivor Bob Narev says the hardest obstacle for many survivors was trying to resume a normal life after such a horrific experience.

“My thoughts have been with the Christchurch Muslim community since March 15. Only together as a country, can we fight racial hatred.

“It is too easy for commemorations to become perfunctory. We must ensure that International Holocaust Remembrance Day is both a commemoration and an expression of commitment.

““We must seize opportunities for New Zealand to ensure that its dedication to fighting antisemitism and all forms of racism is more than just a moral stance and must also be reflected in our actions,” Narev says.

Background information:

  • The term Holocaust refers to the genocide of six million Jews carried out by Nazi Germany and its allies between 1933 and 1945. It includes discrimination, persecution and extermination carried out in death camps such as Chelmno, Treblinka and Auschwitz to achieve the Final Solution’s objective of destroying the Jewish people.
  • A recent poll found a third of New Zealanders have little or no understanding of the Holocaust.
  • The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand is the nation’s leading organisation for Holocaust education and remembrance, dedicated to ensuring the lessons of the Holocaust remain relevant today and for future generations. It provides educational resources to schools and tertiary institutions throughout New Zealand. It also records and makes accessible the stories of Holocaust survivors and those who fled the Holocaust and came to New Zealand.
  • January 27 was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and others who were also murdered by the Nazis.
  • The day was chosen because it was the day in 1945 the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.
  • Events are held around the world and in New Zealand in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.