International Holocaust Commemoration Day will see associated events in Prague and Terezín

This year’s International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, celebrated on January 27, will be commemorated in several places across the Czech Republic. The Senate, together with the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic and the Foundation for Victims of the Holocaust, will organise a commemorative meeting at 10am on Thursday. Among the speakers at the televised event will be Auschwitz survivor Helga Hošková.

At 3pm the Czernin Palace, belonging to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wil host a Czech-Israeli-American commemorative event focusing on murdered and persecuted Jewish diplomats during World War II. Several foreign officials will be taking part in the event, including Israel’s Minister for Social Equality Meirav Cohen, Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari and the chargé d´affaires of the US embassy in Prague Jennifer Bachus.

Outside of Prague, a commemoration will also be held at the Terezín Memorial at 1pm. where a reading of author Roman Cílek’s book Holocaust - Slepá cesta dějin (Holocaust – A blind path of history) will take place in both Czech and German.

International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is celebrated on January 27, the day that Red Army troops entered the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in 1945.