International Holocaust Remembrance Day
On the 27th of January the International Holocaust
Remembrance Day is observed in the entire world. The Holocaust was one of the worst crimes of
World War II and one of the worst tragedies in the history of humanity and it should never
happen again. For this reason on the 1st of November 2005 the UN General Assembly adopted
resolution 60/7 for the annual observance of this day, which includes the words: "The Holocaust,
which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members
of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry,
racism and prejudice."
Bukovina suffered heavily from the savage cruelty of the Holocaust. The victims of the inhuman policies which were carried out here mainly by the army and local administration of the Kingdom of Romania from July 1941 to March 1944 were nearly 100,000 local Jews (different sources give different numbers). Today on the territory of Chernivtsi oblast which includes the northern parts of Bukovina and Bessarabia 51 sites of mass shootings of Jews during the years of World War II were found. Together with the world community, the Museum of the History and Culture of the Bukovinian Jews, commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and expresses its gratitude and respect to all people, irrespective of their nationality, who help to preserve the memory of the innocently killed Jews. Although the fact of the Holocaust is officially recognized and we know who was responsible for this crime, the topic of the destruction of the Jews at the time of World War II still has many aspects that are not researched yet. This creates the soil for the appearance of myths and the conscious or unconscious distortion of history which may be prevented just by means of all-rounded scientific analysis. We are glad that such research is undertaken and results in new publications. We suggest you get to know some of them on our website page "Books and Articles". N. Shevchenko, the museum's guide tells pupils about the Holocaust in Bukovina.
|