United Nations Remembers the Holocaust

The United Nations General Assembly Hall served as a stage for a special commemorative event for the victims of the Holocaust on Friday, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The seats normally assigned to world leaders and their delegations were reserved for family members of Holocaust victims and special guests.

The event started with one minute’s silence to honor the victims.

A video message from UN leader Ban Ki-moon introduced the theme of the ceremony, "Children and the Holocaust."

[Ban Ki-moon, UN leader]:
"Today, as we remember all those lost during the Holocaust, young and old alike, I call on all nations to protect the most vulnerable – regardless of race, color, gender or religious belief. Children are uniquely vulnerable to the worst of humankind. We must assure them the best this world has to offer."

Ron Prosor, the permanent Israeli representative to the UN, cautioned that despite the horrors of the Holocaust, the world has not improved enough.

[Ron Prosor, Israeli Representative to the UN]:
"We live in a world that saw the atrocities of Auschwitz and Birkenau, only have then to witness the killing fields of Cambodia, the genocide in Rwanda, and the ongoing massacres in Darfur. At this very podium, Iran's Ahmadinejad stands every year and shamelessly denies the Holocaust while his government threatens to carry another one. Our duty is clear. It is not enough to be good. We must know what to do when we face evil. It is not enough to know what we stand for. We must know what we stand against."

Prosor showed guests a drawing by Petr Ginz, a Czechoslovak Jew who died in Auschwitz at the age of 16.

The drawing depicts Earth seen from the moon, many years before astronauts landed there.

Prosor urged guests to think about the art and ideas never produced because of the mass killings.

Approximately six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, including 1.5 million children.