Lithuania‘s steps to to ensure Holocaust Remembrance presented at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting
On January 30, 2020, at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting, International Holocaust Remembrance Day was marked.
The OSCE Permanent Council met with Ambassador G. Santer, Chairman of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). In his remarks, Ambassador G. Santer underlined the importance of Holocaust remembrance in fighting the increasing manifestations of discrimination, hatred and antisemitism in OSCE participating States. Particular emphasis was made on promotion of Holocaust education, support to the research of all the crimes committed by the Nazi regime, as well as on combatting Holocaust denial and distortion.
Ambassador A. Taurantas, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the International Organizations in Vienna, underlined the collective responsibility of the entire international community to do everything so that such horrendous crimes as Holocaust would never be repeated. Ambassador A. Taurantas also presented a number of steps undertaken by the Lithuanian authorities to ensure Holocaust remembrance and to fight antisemitism.
Among the most important steps he mentioned Holocaust education, restoration and preservation of the heritage of Lithuanian Jewish community, the Litvaks, and the decision to designate 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon (commemorating the 300th anniversary of a prominent rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon) and the History of the Jews in Lithuania.
