Ukraine has applied to join the world’s main international task force on Holocaust education.
The application is to join the 31-state International Holocaust Remembrance Association, IHRA.
“The application is not just about politics, it’s about discussing history fairly and honestly,” Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said during his announcement of the move at the Kyiv Jewish Forum conference.
Francois Croquette, France’s Human Rights ambassador, welcomed the move.
“I’m delighted by this development and France will support this move and welcome Ukraine as soon as possible” into IHRA, he said.
Actor Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, was elected president by a landslide victory. Uniquely in the world except for Israel, Ukraine also has a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman.
The “absence of antisemitic rhetoric during the campaign is a miracle, a stunning fact that shows how far Ukraine has come,” Elan Carr, the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, said at the conference. He said he would serve as a “champion of Ukraine,” partly for that reason.
