GENEVA – On
Wednesday, The World Jewish Congress partnered with the Permanent Mission of
the United Kingdom to the United Nations in Geneva and the UK IHRA
Presidency for a side event to mark the 80th anniversary of the
liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the
event emphasized the need for educational resources to combat the scourge of Holocaust
denial, distortion, and disinformation, which are becoming troublingly amplified
across social media platforms.
The event was moderated by UK Ambassador Simon
Manley and featured a distinguished panel of speakers, including the Rt
Hon. Lord Eric Pickles, IHRA Chair and UK Special Envoy for
Post-Holocaust Issues; Heather Mann, Associate Project Officer in
UNESCO’s Education Sector; Michael Weiner, Human Rights Officer at OHCHR;
and Leon Saltiel, the WJC’s Representative to the UN in Geneva and
UNESCO.
Lord Pickles emphasized that “the Holocaust started with words” and that “it is our duty to bear witness,” stressing that IHRA’s standards on combating Holocaust denial and distortion should be “the standard, not the exception.” Saltiel underscored the 2022 UN resolution’s role in defining Holocaust distortion, citing a study showing that 63% of American millennials and Gen Z were unaware that six million Jews were murdered – evidence of a “failure of education.” He also noted a 919% surge in antisemitic content on X since October 7, some of it depicting the Holocaust as a positive historical event. Reflecting on the data, Saltiel stated, “A world in which facts do not matter, and human suffering is relativized and politicized, is a dangerous world to live in.”
“As this organization that is hosting us today, the United Nations, was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust, denying the Holocaust also denies the UN’s historical purpose, its need to exist, its raison d’être. A world that does not remember the Holocaust, is a world that does not believe that the UN is relevant and does not learn from the lessons of history.”
Mann warned that classrooms are becoming amplifiers of antisemitism, referencing the 2022 UNESCO report, “History under attack: Holocaust denial and
distortion on social media,” which found half of online Holocaust content to be false or misleading, with disinformation reaching 19% on X and 16% on TikTok. With 80% of students relying on artificial intelligence for homework despite its unreliability in Holocaust education, she cautioned that denial and disinformation will only grow.
Weiner echoed Holocaust survivor Primo Levi’s warning – “It happened, therefore, it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere” – emphasizing the importance of cooperation and interfaith dialogue. Weiner also highlighted various initiatives, including OHCHR’s
Faith for Rights toolkit and efforts to combat discrimination in sports. He also highlighted the WJC’s efforts in combating discrimination, signified by a UN
Human Rights Council side event, held in September 2024, that focused on peer-to-peer learning to promote mutual understanding and deepen awareness of Jewish life. In addition, Weiner spoke of an event taking place on the sidelines of the UEFA Euro in June 2024 in Berlin, co-organized with the WJC that focused on combating antisemitism in football through structural reforms, education, and peer-to-peer learning initiatives. Lastly, he drew attention to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s Holocaust Remembrance Day address,
which underscored the urgent need to combat rising antisemitism and historical
distortion.
To date, the
United Nations has adopted several resolutions on Holocaust remembrance,
denial, and distortion, including Resolution 60/7 (2005) and Resolution 76/250
(2022), as well as the United
Nations Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism,
launched in January 2025.
When asked, “How
do we keep the memory of the Holocaust alive?” Lord Pickles highlighted three
critical steps: preserving the sites where the Holocaust took place to ensure
future generations can witness its historical reality, fostering cooperation
between archival institutions to safeguard and share the testimonies of
survivors, and prioritizing education to equip future generations with the
knowledge and understanding necessary to combat denial and distortion.
