Cyprus has officially joined the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as an observer member and is implementing relevant policies at the state level and indicative of the country's determination to continue these policies, is yesterday's Cabinet decision to adopt the IHRA's Statement of Work on Holocaust Denial and Distortion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
In a statement on the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of Holocaust Victims, the Foreign Ministry said that these policies include adopting the IHRA's working definition of anti-Semitism and providing training for teachers in cooperation with Yad Vashem, incorporating valuable lessons into the education system.
Remembering the horrors of the Holocaust and preserving its memory, the international community reaffirms its collective duty to prevent the recurrence of such heinous crimes and to work tirelessly against denial and forgetting, it said.
The MFA notes that Cyprus, as a place of detention for over 50,000 Holocaust survivors, served as a temporary but safe haven immediately after the end of the Second World War. The horror of the Holocaust thus left an indelible mark on the island's collective consciousness, he notes.
It states that the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust is a day of remembrance and reflection by the international community for the millions of Jews, hundreds of Roma, Sinti and others who were brutally victimized at the hands of Nazi brutality because of their religion and ethnicity in an atrocity that indelibly marred the history of humanity.
On 27 January, the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp, the Republic of Cyprus, together with everyone around the world, commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. It is our obligation to ensure that this message resonates loudly: We will not forget, it notes.
The Foreign Ministry adds that Cyprus also pays tribute to the survivors and salutes all those who fought against the unspeakable darkness and hatred that gripped Europe with the barbarity and mass murder of the Holocaust.[BR]Unfortunately, he says, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial continue to plague humanity, necessitating concerted international action in order to effectively counter them.
Conspiracy theory revisionism and denial of historical truth cannot and must not be tolerated in any form, the MFA says.
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