Ukrainian World Congress honours memory of Holocaust victims

“On this day of remembrance we pray for the innocent Holocaust victims, including 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews. We also pay tribute to those who risked their lives to save those doomed to death. Among over 27,000 Righteous Among the Nations, 2,634 Ukrainians have been recognized to date. This is further testimony that the stories of our people are incomplete without each other. We are confident that in the future the lists of the Righteous will include new names, and we support the call of Ukrainian academics and civil society leaders, as well as the most recent call to Yad Vashem by Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Azman to award Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky this honorable title,” reads the statement posted on the UWC website.

The UWC stressed that the Holocaust, one of the most horrific tragedies of a global scale, became possible by the rule of totalitarian Nazi ideology based on xenophobia and cultivation of intolerance and hatred. 

 “The Ukrainian World Congress strongly condemns any and all modern threatening displays of anti-semitism, racism and hatred and urges the world to not allow horrendous history lessons, similar to those of the Holocaust, to be repeated. At the same time we recognize the achievements of all those who became the pillars of hope and salvation during the atrocities of the Holocaust,” said UWC President Paul Grod.