A delegation of students were privileged to take part in a memorial ceremony at the United Nations for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The program took place 75 years to the day of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau. The students heard from a host of notable speaker representatives from the United Nations, as well as Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN Danny Danon. The program was hosted by UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming and included remarks by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the president of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, the permanent representatives of Germany, Israel, Russia and the United States and Dan Pavel Doghi, chief of the CPRSI, senior adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues, OSCE/ODIHR. Judge Theodor Meron, who served as the president of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, delivered the keynote speech.

Holocaust survivors received standing ovations as they shared their moving testimonies. The ceremony included musical contributions from Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Shulem Lemmer reciting “Kel maleh rachamim” and bringing the whole assembly together for the powerful singing of “Ani Maamin.” RKYHS thanks the Holocaust Council of Greater Metrowest for facilitating this opportunity for its students.