The Holocaust: Forever Remembered

A thematic exhibition "The Holocaust: Forever Remembered" dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is on show in the Anteroom of the Official Documents Service Department (room 207) from January 12 to February 9.

The Day was proclaimed on 1 November 2005 by the 60th session of the UN General Assembly (Resolution 60/7, Holocaust remembrance) and is observed annually on 27 January, the day the Soviets liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in 1945.

The resolution was initiated by Israel, Canada, Australia, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, and co-sponsored by more than 90 other states. The document stressed that the Holocaust, which led to the extermination of one-third of the Jewish people and an enormous number of other minorities, must never be forgotten and that the tragedy will always serve as a warning to all peoples about the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.

To ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are forever remembered by future generations and to help prevent future acts of genocide, the resolution established the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.

The programme involves working closely with Holocaust survivors to make their voices heard and to sound a warning about the consequences of anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination. The programme includes international campaigns, seminars, film screenings, exhibitions and preparation of educational materials for teachers and students.

Belarus was one of the co-sponsoring countries of the Holocaust Remembrance Resolution. Events commemorating this tragedy are also held in our Republic every year.

During the war, Belarus lost one in three of its citizens and went through all the horrors of the Holocaust. More than two and a half hundred death camps and mass extermination sites were established in Nazi-occupied territory. These included the Minsk ghetto, as well as the largest Nazi death camp in Belarus, Trascianec, where civilians, prisoners of war and Jewish population deported from Austria, Germany, Poland and other countries were exterminated.

The exhibition presents more than 70 documents in Russian, German and English. Among them are books, booklets and periodicals. These include historical, documentary and memoir documents that tell the story of the Holocaust as one of the Nazis' most heinous crimes. All materials are testimonies of respect for the survivors and a tribute to the victims who lost their lives. They express the hope that the study of this tragedy will inspire humanity to reject all forms of racism, violence and anti-Semitism.

The exhibition consists of the following thematic sections:

• History of the Holocaust in Europe
• It is impossible to forget (memories of the Holocaust)
• The Lessons of the Holocaust
• Holocaust in Belarus

The exhibition will be of interest to historians, specialists in international law, world politics, international relations and human rights, as well as students, undergraduates and teachers.

Related links

• International Holocaust Remembrance Day
• The Holocaust and the United Nations: an outreach programme
• 28th special session of the General Assembly "The 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps" (24 January 2005) (in Russian)
• International Conference on Education and the Holocaust

Documents

• General Assembly Resolution on Holocaust Denial (26 January 2007)
• General Assembly Resolution on Holocaust Remembrance (1 November 2005)
• Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Durban, 31 August – 8 September 2001)
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (21 December 1965)
• Principles of International Co-operation in the Detection, Arrest, Extradition and Punishment of Persons Guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity (December 3, 1973)
• Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, 26 Nov 1968
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (9 December 1948)
• International Conference on Education and the Holocaust (Progress Report 2017)

The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Admission is by the library card or by the Social and Cultural Centre ticket.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 34.

Official Documents Service Department