The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) condemned all attempts to rehabilitate the reputations of persons who were complicit in the crimes of the Holocaust and the genocide of the Roma in a statement following its 2020 Berlin Plenary.
“In the spirit of its 2020 Ministerial Declaration, the IHRA encourages “all countries and societies to address their respective pasts by dealing openly and accurately with the historical record.” Therefore, it is imperative for the IHRA to promote research, public awareness, and political responsibility around the issue of rehabilitation,” read a statement.
“The countries affected by the Holocaust have long wrestled with the challenges of confronting the past and with thorny questions surrounding complicity for the crimes planned and carried out by Nazi Germany and those fascist and extreme nationalist partners and other collaborators who participated in these crimes. These developments are not unique to any single country or historical experience, and they appear in IHRA member countries and beyond, including in those lands not directly affected by the Holocaust. Countries must engage with their national histories as they pertain to the Holocaust, as well as with the histories of those individuals who were complicit in its crimes.”
“Failure to remember truthfully demeans the living and disrespects the dead,” the statement concluded.
