Event organized in Oaxaca

For about 2 week, UNIC Mexico City participated in a series of events to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. On 25 January, UNIC held a screening of "The Rescuers" for a group of secondary school students, followed by a lively discussion. On the same day, the UNIC Director spoke at a forum organized by Yad Vashem Mexico as part of its "Adopt a school" programme. That afternoon, a solemn ceremony was also held at the UN house to commemorate the Day, preceded by the inauguration of the exhibit "Rescue".

On 28 January, the UNIC Director participated in the high profile commemoration hosted by the National Human Rights Commission, while the UNIC Deputy-Director read the Secretary-General’s message and shared information about the UN Holocaust Programme during the ceremony organized by the Chamber of Deputies of the Mexican National Congress to commemorate the Day.

UNIC also participated at several commemorative events organized by NGO PAAZ, at the National Museum of History and Anthropology in Mexico City (24 January), at the municipality of Ecatepec (29 January), and, on 21 February, at an event organized by NGO PAAZ and the Government of the State of Oaxaca. At that venue, the exhibition "Rescue" was inaugurated, followed by a commemoration attended by an audience of more than 2,200.

On 15 February, the exhibit "The Shoah in Europe" was inaugurated at the Biblioteca Pedagógica de Estado de México in Toluca before a very interested secondary school student audience who also heard a presentation by the UNIC Director on "The United Nations and the Holocaust".

Holocaust survivor Bedrich Steiner at the exhibit "The Shoa in Europe"

The UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Mexico City observed the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust through two weeks of commemorative events.

On 22 January, UNIC inaugurated, at Anahuac University, the travelling exhibition "The Shoah in Europe". The display transmitted the character of human rights with the message that no people can be the victim of social hatred, including intolerance, discrimination and xenophobia. The inauguration was followed by a roundtable with participation of the President of the Commission on International Relations of the Senate and University authorities.

The United Nations information Centre (UNIC) in Dakar, in association with four secondary schools of Dakar, organized a series of exhibitions on the Holocaust in Europe, on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

The exhibition was displayed in four high schools as follows: 
31 January to 7 February 2012: College Hyacinthe Thiandoum 
7 to 16 February 2012: West African College of the Atlantic (WACA)
16 to 22 February 2012: Cours Sainte Marie de Hann
22 February to 12 March 2012: Université du Sahel

Reaching approximately 6000 students between 31 January to 12 March 2012, the schools displayed the exhibition for approximately a week. At each school, the History professors gave a briefing on the Holocaust, which was followed by a debate between the students and the teachers.

The finale of the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in New Delhi’s day-long commemoration on 16 February in memory of the victims of the Holocaust included a remembrance ceremony and screening of the film “The Heavens Will Open for You: The Story of Malka Rosenthal”. The ceremony began with guests viewing UNIC’s exhibition containing photos and drawings depicting symbols and stories of remembrance, creatively arranged along a length of barbed wire ending with white flowers of hope.
 
As the invited audience entered the auditorium, the strains of selected Hebrew and Yiddish songs filled the air, echoing the pathos of a tragedy that is seared into the world’s memory and conscience. As the melody faded, Israeli musician Yoni Avital took the stage to present a short performance on the flute followed by a Hebrew song. To mark the annihilation of six million Jews and 1 million others, including members of the Roma and Sinti communities and people with disabilities, seven commemorative candles were lit.
 
The event ended with the screening of “The Heavens Will Open for You”, a film that chronicles the Jewish community in Stanislawow, Eastern Galicia, through the story of Malka Rosenthal. Over the course of the German occupation of Poland, Malka lost her mother and younger brother. She went through many years of tribulation as a child, during which she suffered cold, hunger, exhaustion, even spending a year-and-a-half hiding in a barrel in a cattle shed belonging to a family that sheltered her. After liberation, she was one of the survivors aboard the illegal immigrant ship Exodus, eventually arriving in Israel in 1948. Malka rebuilt her life through her work and education, and by starting a new family.