IHRA Secretary General condemns the silencing of researchers in Poland
Following yesterday's attack by a Member of the Polish Parliament against Holocaust historian Prof. Jan Grabowski, Dr. Kathrin Meyer, IHRA Secretary General, says: "I strongly condemn the increasingly violent attempts in Poland to silence researchers like Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, who, even in the face of threats and intimidation, have the courage to uncover the truth of the Holocaust, no matter how uncomfortable. IHRA Member Countries and our expert community share an understanding that research on the Holocaust must be built on facts, cooperation, and openness to the...
IHRA Chair's Statement on the suing of Holocaust historians in Poland
"We view with great concern how historians researching the Holocaust are being sued in Poland for presenting the findings of their work. Together, the Member Countries of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) have pledged to uphold the Stockholm Declaration and the 2020 IHRA Ministerial Declaration. In doing so, they have committed themselves to aiding in 'efforts to promote education, remembrance, and research about the Holocaust,' encouraging 'the study of the Holocaust in all its dimensions,' and encouraging 'all countries and societies to address their respective pasts by...
IHRA Chair commends Holy See on opening of Pope Pius XII Archives
The IHRA Chair, Ambassador Georges Santer, said: "We commend the Holy See’s official opening of the Pope Pius XII Archives today. Archival access is a key aspect of Holocaust remembrance, and contributes directly to safeguarding the historical record. We all share a responsibility to throw light on the still obscured shadows of the Holocaust and the Second World War, and we very much appreciate the constructive talks we had in the past with Cardinal State Secretary, Pietro Parolin, and Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. For decades a significant amount...
IHRA Academic Working Group Statement on Scholarly Comparisons
"The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance aims to safeguard the record and counter distortion of the history of the Holocaust and genocide of the Roma. Its vision is to work towards the moral imperative of “a world without genocide.” Eschewing scholarly comparison, which enables early recognition of the symptoms of militarized, dehumanizing, mass detention of civilian populations and supports voicing timely warnings, defeats the very meaning and purpose of the IHRA mission. The IHRA Academic Working Group stands in opposition to any and all such prohibitions."
Statement on Disruption of International Symposium on Polish Research on the Holocaust
"On behalf of the experts of the Academic Working Group of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, we express our grave concern about the recent disruption of the international symposium held in Paris from 21-22 February, entitled “The New Polish School of Historical Research on the Shoah”. An organized, appointed group of Polish Nationalists aimed to interrupt the debate and they harassed the speakers. Publicly voiced antisemitic remarks have been reported to the public prosecutor. We commend the swift reaction of Dr. Jerzy Duszyński, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences...
Statement on the Holy See’s Decision to open the Pius XII Archives
"As current and incoming Chairs of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, we warmly welcome the Holy See’s decision to open the Pius XII Archives. The IHRA has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Holy See and had the honour of holding a joint conference focusing on refugee policies from 1933 to the present day in February 2017. We very much appreciate the constructive talks we had in the past with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, and in October 2018 with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, and we are delighted to...
IHRA Chair’s Statement Regarding IHRA Visit to Budapest on the “House of Fates” Project
Chair’s Statement Regarding IHRA Visit to Budapest on the “House of Fates” Project Last week IHRA Chair Sir Andrew Burns and the IHRA Executive Secretary joined a briefing with Rabbi Andrew Baker (American Jewish Committee), Dr Andras Heisler (President of Maszihisz), Professor György Haraszti (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Holocaust Research and Documentation Centre), and a number of international and Hungarian historians and experts to discuss the House of Fates project with its director Dr Maria Schmidt. Dr Schmidt outlined the project which is intended to serve a...
IHRA Chair’s Statement Regarding the Proposed EU Regulation on Data
On behalf of the delegates of the 31 member countries of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), among them 24 members of the European Union, I would like to express my deep concern with the European Commission’s proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation. Ensuring open access to and the protection of Holocaust-era archival materials are at the heart of IHRA’s mission and are central to the commitments of 46 countries to the Stockholm Declaration on the Holocaust of 2000. Although IHRA supports the European Commission’s efforts to ensure uniform protection of...
International Task Force Reiterates Urgent Need for ITS to Open Archives
International Holocaust Task Force Urges Opening of Bad Arolsen Archive June 30, 2005 The twenty-country Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, which met in Warsaw on June 30, reiterated its call for immediate steps to be taken to open the archive of the International Tracing Service (ITS) at Bad Arolsen, Germany, to scholars and other researchers. In this regard, the Task Force welcomed the decision May 30 in Rome of the International Commission of the International Tracing Service to entrust an intergovernmental committee of...
International Task Force Urges Immediate Opening of ITS Archives
International Task Force Calls for Concrete Steps to Open Holocaust-Era Archives of the International Tracing Service in Germany December 16, 2004 At their plenary meeting in Trieste on December 16, 2004, in Trieste, Italy, the member countries of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research called for immediate steps to be taken to inform the public about the long-inaccessible Holocaust-related archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and to open the archives for research...