Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In October 2005, the United Nations adopted January 27 as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, recognizing the enduring impact of the Holocaust on our world. More than sixty years since the Holocaust, we are still learning important lessons that continue to inform our work on genocide prevention.

As we reflect on this day, we are each more committed than ever to seeing a world without genocide and mass atrocities.

In a message to survivors of Auschwitz, President Barack Obama said that these brave individuals were no longer "former prisoners.”

"You are living memorials. Living memorials to the loved ones you left here. And to the spirit we must strive to uphold in our time—not simply to bear witness, but to bear a burden," Obama said. "The burden of seeing our common humanity; of resisting anti-Semitism and ignorance in all its forms; of refusing to become bystanders to evil, whenever and wherever it rears its ugly face.

As we prepare to listen to the President’s State of the Union address, activists and the international community will wait to see if the President publicly commits to making genocide prevention a national priority.

Click here  to watch video of the President Obama’s speech today.