OSCE meeting discusses role of Holocaust remembrance in preventing anti-Semitism and other forms of racism
VIENNA, 10 November 2008 - Representatives of international organizations held a roundtable discussion on the role of Holocaust commemoration in combating anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance in Vienna today.
Organized by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Austrian Chairmanship of the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF), the meeting marked the 70th anniversary of a series of pogroms in Nazi Germany on 9 November 1938.
"Seventy years after these pogroms, in 2008, we still face anti-Semitic hate crimes in the OSCE region," said ODIHR Director Ambassador Janez Lenarcic. "Clearly, important historic lessons have still not been learned by all."
Lenarcic emphasized the importance of strengthening partnerships between international organizations to combat anti-Semitism.
Both ODIHR and the ITF conduct a number of programmes in the area of education about anti-Semitism and Holocaust remembrance. One of ODIHR's main projects is a collection of teaching materials about both historical and contemporary forms of anti-Semitism that have been adopted, so far, by 10 OSCE participating States for use in secondary schools.
Information about ODIHR's work in the area of Holocaust remembrance and combating anti-Semitism can be found on ODIHR's website (www.osce.org/odihr), as well as on ODIHR's dedicated web portal, TANDIS (tandis.odihr.pl).
Information about activities conducted by the ITF can be found on its website (www.holocausttaskforce.org).