WCC NEWS: WCC on Holocaust Remembrance Day: “a permanent and indelible reality”

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca called upon people to pause to remember the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazism during the Second World War.  Prayer at the western wall in Jerusalem. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 27 January 2021 “As well as being an annual commemoration of all the precious lives lost during that appalling manifestation of evil, International Holocaust Remembrance Day is also a salutary recurrent reminder of the path that leads from fear and hatred of ‘the other,’ through the denial of the human dignity and rights of all people equally, to genocide,” said Sauca. "Far from being an episode receding in increasingly distant history, the Holocaust remains an ever present threat.” For Jewish people, Armenians, Rwandans and others who have experienced genocide, Sauca added, “it is a permanent and indelible reality.” In recent years, Sauca reflected, we have observed increasing licence being given to hate speech and demonization of others in political and public discourse. “We have seen resurgent expressions of antisemitism and other group hatreds,” he said. “And we have witnessed the impacts of these phenomena on our societies and relationships.” At a June 2019 meeting, the WCC and the International Jewish Committee for Interrreligious Consultations pledged to work together to oppose this widespread normalization of hatred. “On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day all people of faith and good will must recommit to the continuing challenge of resisting and challenging antisemitism and all such hatreds that deny the image of God in other human beings,” concluded Sauca. “In commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, we are called to speak and act to prevent its recurrence." Full text of the statement News release about the WCC –IJCI meeting in June 2019 Strengthening inter-religious trust and respect See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC interim general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland