Centre for Civic Education (CCE), on the occasion of 27 January – International Holocaust Remembrance Day, emphasizes the importance of preserving memory and continuous education about the horrors of the Holocaust. By commemorating this day, we contribute to the creation of a society that has the strength to face the past and resist destructive ideologies, hatred, prejudices, and propaganda to which, unfortunately, today’s societies are not immune.
It is important to point out the recently signed Agreement on financing the re-establishment of a joint permanent exhibition in the Auschwitz Museum – Birkenau in Poland, as a memorial site for the victims of that concentration camp. The Agreement was signed by Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Slovenia. This is also encouraging for the overall efforts in the region towards establishing a culture of remembrance and combating revisionism.
The Holocaust serves as a warning that we must learn and remember to prevent tragic paths walked throughout history. Unfortunately, global movements have led to the fact that even today, in different parts of the world, innocent civilians are suffering and killed. This indicates that many lessons have not been learned or applied.
Education, both through the formal system and through informal programmes, about crimes from the past, among which the Holocaust has a significant place, represents a barrier to historical relativization and numerous manipulations that also burden Montenegrin society. Without a culture of remembrance and respect for the victims, we cannot have sustainable peace and the desired stability of societies based on the anti-fascist and civilizational values of modern democratic societies.
In 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 27 January as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On that day, 75 years ago, the largest concentration camp of Nazi Germany – Auschwitz-Birkenau – was liberated by the Red Army. During its five years of existence, over 1, 300,000 people from all over Europe, mostly Jews, were held there, and 1,100,000 were killed. In addition to them, Roma, anti-fascist, partisans, communists, and their followers were deported to this infamous camp. The Holocaust represents the systematic extermination of European Jews during World War II and killed about 6,000,000 Jews. The Resolution calls on all UN members to respect the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and encourages the development of educational programmes on the history of the Holocaust, which seeks to show determination to help prevent acts of genocide in the future. Around 20, 000 people from the territory of Yugoslavia, including a few dozen from Montenegro, were deported to the camp, and fewer than 100 of them survived the liberation of the camp. The Holocaust represents the systematic destruction of European Jews during World War II, and about 6,000,000 Jews perished in it. The resolution calls on all UN members to respect the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and encourages the development of educational programmes on the history of the Holocaust, showing determination to help prevent these crimes in the future.
Nikola Đurašević, Programme Assistant