Memorial Day in Italy

Holocaust Memorial Day is an international holiday, celebrated on January 27 each year as a day to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. It was so designated by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on November 1, 2005 during its 42nd plenary meeting. The resolution was preceded by a special session held on January 24, 2005 during which the United Nations General Assembly celebrated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust.

It was resolved to celebrate Holocaust Memorial Day every January 27 because on that day in 1945 Red Army troops, engaged in the Vistula-Oder offensive in the direction of Germany, liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Many years after its establishment in Italy, Holocaust Memorial Day reminds us of the moral imperative, well before the legal duty, to honour the victims of the Holocaust and to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. We believe that, if anti-Semitism is a virus to be eradicated, the best antidote remains the memory of the Shoah, which we must renew from generation to generation through valuable testimonies.