Welcome
Germany assumes the IHRA chairmanship
Minister of State Michael Roth said the following today (3 March) at the ceremony marking the handover of the chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) from Luxembourg to Germany:
Germany made a most conscious decision to assume the IHRA chairmanship this anniversary year of 2020. We are thereby living up to our historical responsibility and sending a strong signal at a time when freedom, democracy and diversity are coming under massive pressure.
All IHRA member countries have made a commitment to face up to their own past, by critically and truthfully researching the history they have inherited. In Germany, we know all too well that this is a long and painful process. Much work remains to be done on the map of Europe’s sites of remembrance. Let us together help raise awareness about the darkest chapter of our common history.
Background information:
On 3 March, Germany will for one year be assuming the chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, or IHRA. The IHRA is the leading international institution to strengthen, advance and promote education, remembrance and research with regard to the Holocaust and the genocide of the Sinti and Roma. The main focus of the German chairmanship is the fight against any diminishing or distortion of the Holocaust. The Federal Foreign Office will support the establishment of a Global Task Force of international experts to fight against distortion of the Holocaust with a contribution of one million euros. Michaela Küchler, the Federal Foreign Office Special Representative for Relations with Jewish Organisations, Issues Relating to Antisemitism, International Sinti and Roma Affairs, and Holocaust Remembrance, will serve as head of the German delegation during the chairmanship.