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The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today deplored any attempt to question or deny the Holocaust as a conference continued in Iran on the scale and nature of the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews – already dismissed as a myth by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the face of the attempts to re-write history that are currently at work, I can but recall in the most emphatic manner that it is our moral duty to analyze the past and to pass it on without falsification, alteration or omission,”
The head of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today deplored any
attempt to question or deny the Holocaust as a conference continued in
Iran on the scale and nature of the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews –
already dismissed as a myth by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In the face of the attempts to re-write history that are currently at
work, I can but recall in the most emphatic manner that it is our moral
duty to analyze the past and to pass it on without falsification,
alteration or omission,” UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said
in a statement.
“Any attempt to call into question or to deny the reality of the
Holocaust or of any other crime against humanity is to be deeply
regretted. UNESCO has a major role to play in this work of
transmission, which is of especial importance to the younger
generations,” he added.
Mr. Matsuura noted that the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz site had been
inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a particularly striking
example of the duty to respect history and memory. “I was able to gauge
this personally when I visited the site in April 2001, a moment that
will for ever be engraved in my mind,” he said.
“I fully share the conviction of the United Nations Secretary-General
[Kofi Annan], who recently denounced all attempts to cast doubt on the
reality of the Holocaust, which he qualifies as ‘a unique and
undeniable horror,’” he added.
Last week, Mr. Annan said any “attempt to cast doubt on the reality of
this unique and undeniable horror must be firmly resisted by all people
of goodwill and of whatever faith.” He added that he would deeply
deplore any conference whose purpose is to question or deny the reality
of the Holocaust.
Mr. Matsuura noted that UNESCO had welcomed the adoption by the General
Assembly, almost a year ago of a resolution proclaiming 27 January, the
day of the liberation of Auschwitz, as ‘International Day of
Remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust’ in order to remember the
crimes of the past and to prevent future acts of genocide.
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