Note to Correspondents

Holocaust remembrance exhibits on display at United Nations

headquarters, 28 January to 2 March

 

In observance of the Holocaust remembrance, a joint exhibition, “The Holocaust:  Stories of Rescue”, will be on display in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby beginning Monday, 28 January, and will remain on view through 2 March.  The exhibit comprises two parts:

BESA – A Code of Honour:  an exhibition about Muslim Albanians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.  The remarkable assistance afforded to the Jews was grounded in Besa, a code of honour, which still today serves as the highest ethical code in the country.  This exhibit is produced by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Authority in Jerusalem, Israel, and sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Albania to the United Nations.

Carl Lutz and the Legendary Glass House in Budapest:  an exhibition about the Swiss Vice-Consul who helped save the lives of tens of thousands of Jews from deportation during the Holocaust.  This exhibit is organized and produced by the Carl Lutz Foundation in Budapest, Hungary, and sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Hungary and Switzerland.

A formal exhibit-opening ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 29 January, at 6 p.m. in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby followed by a private reception.  Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will deliver a message from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  Other speakers include Adrian Neritani, Permanent Representative of Albania; Yehudit Shendar, Deputy Director and Senior Curator of the Museums Division of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Authority (Jerusalem); Norman Gershman, photographer of the Besa exhibit; Peter Vamos, speaking on behalf of the Carl Lutz Foundation; and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a Holocaust survivor.

These exhibits are presented as part of a week-long series of activities on the Holocaust Remembrance.  In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated 27 January as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of victims of the Holocaust.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  212 963 8531, e-mail:  arnesen@un.org; or Liza Wichmann at tel.:  212 963 0089, e-mail:  wichmann@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record