The United Nations held its main annual memorial ceremony today in the General Assembly Hall to mark International Holocaust Memorial Day. Secretary-General António Guterres, General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák, Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon and dozens of ambassadors from around the world participated in the ceremony. Eva Lavi, a survivor originally from Krakow, Poland, was invited by Ambassador Danon to address the ceremony. Lavi survived the Holocaust together with her parents after Oskar Schindler included them on his famous list. Schindler personally saved Lavi when he convinced the Nazis that, despite her young age, she was vital to his factory’s war efforts.
“On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we tell our children the unthinkable stories of this dark chapter in human history so that no tragedy of its kind will ever happen again,” Ambassador Danon said in his address. “We must never allow any legislation to pass that denies the truth and rewrites history,” the Ambassador noted. “As we honor those few brave souls who stood strongly against evil and saved Jews from death, we must not forget those who cooperated with the Nazi evildoers. We will firmly oppose any attempt to distort the truth,” Ambassador Danon continued.