Statements & Speeches

IHRA Athen’s Plenary 2021

Message on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Honouring, Rethinking, Acting

Today, we commemorate the victims and survivors of the hatred that was the driving force of a totalitarian, criminal regime and its collaborators. Absolute responsibility and duty of all of us, who choose to be called heirs of humanitarian and democratic values, is to honour the victims and survivors, to reflect upon their legacy and […]

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Deputy Prime Minister Panayiotis Pikrammenos’ addresses welcome speech to the IHRA Thessaloniki Plenary delegates

Deputy Prime Minister Panayiotis Pikrammenos’ welcome address to Thessaloniki Plenary

“Dear Honorary President of IHRA, Professor Yehuda Bauer, Dear Members of National Delegations and Working Groups and Committees, Dear Permanent Office members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thessaloniki used to be the major center of Jewish Sephardic culture in South-eastern Europe. In the Judeo Spanish language spoken by the Jews of Thessaloniki, the city was called Madre

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ addresses welcome speech to the IHRA Thessaloniki Plenary delegates

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ welcome address to Thessaloniki Plenary

“Greece’s Presidency of the IHRA has by now reached its midway point. Over the past months, we focused our efforts on assessing how to confront the resurgence of Antisemitism. Unfortunately, Antisemitism feeds on ignorance, fear, feelings of impotence and conspiracy theories. Even the most advanced and sophisticated societies remain vulnerable to these evils. Hence, the

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IHRA Chair under the Greek Presidency, Ambassador Chris J. Lazaris, addresses a welcome speech to the Thessaloniki Plenary delegates

IHRA Chair, Ambassador Lazaris, welcomes delegates to the Thessaloniki Plenary 2021

“My most respected Honorary President, Professor Yehuda Bauer,Dear Heads and members of national Delegations,Dear colleagues and coworkers of the IHRA Permanent Office,Ladies and Gentlemen, Here we are already, at the second IHRA Plenary under Greek Presidency and Thessaloniki remains as elusive as ever. Though COVID is to blame, we had hoped, back when predictions on

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IHRA Chair’s statement on recent antisemitic violence and hate speech supported by the Athen’s Plenary

Ambassador Lazaris stresses the importance of the IHRA Greek Presidency in an interview with Athens News Agency

Τhe head of the Greek Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Ambassador Christodoulos Lazaris in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) (“Greece to play a leading role”) stressed the importance of assuming the Presidency of the Alliance. Lazaris gave the interview in the framework of the Athens Democracy Forum. He underlined

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Ambassador Lazaris stresses the importance of the IHRA Greek Presidency in an interview with Athens News Agency

Panel Discussion on the challenges of racism and hate speech co-organized by the Greek Presidency of the IHRA and Babyn Yar within Athens Democracy Forum

The Holocaust should serve contemporary societies as a guide about how far racism and hate speech can go and as an ongoing reminder that Democracy needs to constantly fight against toxic and dividing ideas. Such issues were dealt with by the participants in the Panel Discussion of the Symposium on “Combating Racism and Hate Speech:

Panel Discussion on the challenges of racism and hate speech co-organized by the Greek Presidency of the IHRA and Babyn Yar within Athens Democracy Forum Read More »

FM Dendias Athens Democracy Forum

2021 Athens Democracy Forum: Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias addresses the Symposium on “Combating Racism and Hate Speech: Lessons from the Holocaust”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Nikos Dendias, opened the Symposium on “Combating Racism and Hate Speech: Lessons from the Holocaust” which has been hosted on September 30, within the 2021 Athens Democracy Forum, in association and with the participation of the Greek Presidency of the IHRA and Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center. In

2021 Athens Democracy Forum: Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias addresses the Symposium on “Combating Racism and Hate Speech: Lessons from the Holocaust” Read More »

Ambassador Chris Lazaris

IHRA Chair’s address at the virtual commemoration of the genocide of the Sinti and Roma on 2 August 2021

On 2 August, the Roma Genocide Remembrance Day, we commemorate the last 4,300 Sinti and Roma in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, who were murdered by the SS in 1944 despite their fierce resistance. Addressing this year’s virtual commemoration of all 500,000 Sinti and Roma murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe, to honor the victims and survivors

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Secretary General for Greeks Abroad & Public Diplomacy John Chrysoulakis' welcome address

Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy John Chrysoulakis welcomes delegates to IHRA Athens Plenary 2021

“Distinguished delegates of the IHRA member countries, I warmly welcome you to the online Athens Plenary Meeting in the capital of Greece, a city with great history and a vibrant life. It is a great honor to address this Plenary Meeting of the IHRA, an alliance whose goals and values we firmly support and share.

Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy John Chrysoulakis welcomes delegates to IHRA Athens Plenary 2021 Read More »