Invitation to a
Virtual event on Wednesday, 27 January
Part I. Livestream hosted by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities
13.30 Commemoration event of the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia
13.50 Opening Remarks by the German Ambassador, H.E. Christian Heldt
14.00 Presentation of ongoing memorial projects in Latvia
- Introduction to the work of the German Riga-Committee and activities planned in 2021 presented by Thomas Rey, M.A, Coordinator Riga-Committee, Volksbund Deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.
- Introduction to the project “Lock(er) of Memory: Memorial to the victims of KZ Jungfernhof”
presented by Dr. Karen Frostig, Founding Director of the Project & Artist (USA) - Introduction to the movie project “And We Lived On” about the post-war fates of Latvian Holocaust survivors, presented by Ms. Yunia Pugacheva, Director (USA)
- Introduction to the project “Breaking the Silence”, commemorating the victims of Holocaust in Cēsis, presented by Ms. Elīna Kalniņa, Head of the Project (Latvia); funded by EVZ (Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft)
14.50 Break
15.00 Introduction to the work of the Arolsen-Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution – and its relevance for Latvia, presented by Dr. Christian Höschler
#everynamecounts, a crowdsourcing project presented by Christa Seidenstücker followed by Q&A, moderated by Ilya Lensky, Director of the Museum “Jews in Latvia”
16.30 Researching the rescuers of the Jews: Aizpute case Maija Meiere, Museum Pedagogue, Zanis Lipke Memorial In Latvian – with English subtitles
17.45 Break
Part II. Livestream of high-level international event, organised by the UN, UNESCO and IHRA
Please register here for both events: https://bit.ly/3g3tTw0 or got to https://webtv.un.org
18.00 – 19.00 Holocaust Memorial Ceremony (11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EST)
The event will include remarks by the United Nations Secretary-General and the Director-General of UNESCO, as well as statements by high-level guests (i.e. German Chancellor Merkel), a Holocaust survivor testimony and the memorial prayers.
19.00 – 20.00 Online panel discussion “Holocaust Denial and Distortion” (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST)
The online commemoration will be followed by a panel discussion on Holocaust denial and distortion, with contributions of diverse experts in the field. The panel discussion is organized together with UNESCO, and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.