(Washington, D.C., Jan. 24, 2022)--In her first major address before an international Jewish audience since starting her new role, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock delivered a keynote speech at B’nai B’rith International’s annual event in conjunction with the United Nations’ Holocaust Remembrance Day. She said that Germany “is firmly committed to preserving the memory of the Holocaust—today and in the future. We will shoulder our responsibilities, and we will keep facing our past,” adding, “For the new German government, the security of Israel is and will remain inherent to our reason of state. We speak out against unfounded criticism and hate against Israel.”
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The virtual B’nai B’rith program, “Holocaust Remembrance: Responsibilities for All Society” also featured live remarks by United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who shared personal memories of his mother’s family’s Holocaust experience. Mayorkas talked about foundational principles that define anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, and said that hate manifests in ways we can see but also lingers below the surface. He added that the prevalence of this bigotry continues to present an existential threat and that we cannot assume the Holocaust could not recur. Finally, he noted, “An attack born of hate against one minority is an attack against all.”  Mayorkas—who, like other speakers, commended B’nai B’rith for its relevant work—said that although International Holocaust Remembrance Day is just one day each year, “We know that remembrance is every day, as is the work that must accompany it.”

In his remarks, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas made the point, “Left unchallenged, Holocaust-distortion nourishes anti-Semitism.” He said, “We need to protect our societies from any attempt to rewrite history, and support open and independent research on all aspects of the Holocaust. At the same time, we must step up our efforts to fight anti-Semitism in all its forms, using the definition of IHRA as our starting point.” IHRA is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental body that has adopted critical working definitions of both anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denial.

In advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, B’nai B’rith’s program focused on collective responsibility to remember and to educate about the systematic murder of six million Jews across Europe during the Shoah.

Opening the program, with a global virtual audience this year due to the pandemic, B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin noted: “As we wrote in a letter to U.N. member states” in support of an Israeli-initiated resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly last week, “Holocaust-denial is fundamentally not just about revisionist histories… it is an attempt to deny the past in order to justify present or future violence against the Jewish people and other vulnerable minorities.”

B’nai B’rith Director of U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels and Director of European Union Affairs Alina Bricman moderated two panels of distinguished figures. Panel I focused on government action across the world and featured:

• Irwin Cotler, Canadian Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism
• Ellen Germain, United States Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues
• Fernando Lottenberg, the Organization of American States Commissioner to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
• Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life

Cotler said, “Anti-Semitism is toxic to democracies. Holocaust distortion is toxic to democracies. We need a global constituency of conscience to combat it.”

Panel II focused on best practices from other diverse fields and featured experts:

• Kathrin Meyer, Secretary General, IHRA
• Daniel Lörcher, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Borussia Dortmund
• Tracey Petersen, Manager of The United Nations and the Holocaust Outreach Programme
• Tibi Galis, Executive Director, Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide
• Omar Al Busaidy, CEO, Sharaka USA

Meyer warned: “Holocaust distortion desensitizes people to anti-Semitic acts… and it’s a disgrace toward the victims and the survivors.” She added, “To remember the Holocaust… is a responsibility of humankind.”

Dani Dayan, Chairman of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, provided a concluding message, introduced by B’nai B’rith U.N. Affairs Chair Millie Magid. Dayan said, “I leave this program encouraged. It’s clear we have an effective, a committed world-wide community of Shoah remembrance.” He stressed the importance of documentation and research. “Documentation is ultimately the testimony of the six million” who were not able to give physical testimony.

B’nai B’rith President Seth Riklin closed the program, thanking the guests for “your insights and your critical work,” and urging support for B’nai B’rith’s ongoing efforts on Holocaust memory, combating anti-Semitism and other key objectives around the world.

The complete program, “Holocaust Remembrance: Responsibilities for All Society” can be found here: https://youtu.be/SsmvSUvii_c.

B’nai B’rith—which has led Jewish communal engagement with the United Nations since the world body was founded in 1945—played an active role in U.N. adoption of International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005, and has held yearly events since then at the U.N.’s world headquarters in New York and online.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org.

(Washington, D.C., Dec 2, 2020)—B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement: 

B’nai B’rith International welcomes the EU Council Declaration on mainstreaming the fight against anti-Semitism across policy areas issued today through unanimous agreement by EU member states. The declaration highlights a core belief we share and advocate for in the EU and globally: fighting anti-Semitism is not merely a Jewish responsibility; it is a responsibility for all society. 

The declaration, spearheaded by the German presidency of the council, recognizes that the fight against anti-Semitism is a cross-cutting policy issue. It must involve government and policies at local, national and European levels. Thus, the fight against anti-Semitism extends to all policy areas – from education and sports to security, migration or digital governance.

We applaud the focus placed on Jewish heritage as an integral part of the European fabric, as the declaration notes that“Judaism and Jewish life have contributed considerably to shaping European identity and enriching Europe’s cultural, intellectual and religious heritage.” Thus, member states commit to the important mission of making Jewish life more visible as part of Europe’s identity. 

As nearly half of EU member states are yet to adopt the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism, the declaration calls for the implementation of this crucial commitment highlighted in the 2018 “Council Declaration on the fight against anti-Semitism and the development of a common security approach to better protect Jewish communities and institutions in Europe.” We echo this call – the IHRA definition is a first necessary step in identifying and addressing this age-old scourge, whether it stems from the far-right, the far-left or radical Islam.

Importantly, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the declaration recognizes the need to accelerate the fight against anti-Semitism online, underlining that crimes committed online are subject to the same legal remedies as those committed offline.

As we hail this new declaration as an important step, we urge EU countries to take measures to implement its commitments in the urgent and essential task of tackling anti-Semitism and safeguarding Jewish life. As Jewish communities across Europe face old and new challenges, appropriate resources must be directed at all levels of government to live up to this task.

See the full text of the Declaration here.

B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org.

(Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2019)—B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
We strongly support the Corinthians Football Club of São Paulo’s campaign to commemorate Kristallnacht by wearing yellow stars on their jerseys this week. The stars on the jerseys are meant to evoke the star badges Jews were forced to wear on their clothing under Nazi rule. Corinthians Football Club’s gesture of solidarity is timed to coincide with the 81st anniversary of the 1938 pogrom.
 
On Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, 1938, Nazi paramilitaries and civilians ransacked and destroyed Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, hospitals and schools. After the Yom Kippur terrorist attack on a German synagogue, the murder of 11 worshippers a year ago at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in the face of rising anti-Semitism in the United States and across the world, historical memory is more important than ever.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org
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 (Washington, D.C., Oct. 10, 2019)—B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:  
 
We condemn the vile anti-Semitic attack that took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, outside a synagogue and inside a kebab shop in Halle, Germany.
 
The shooter uploaded a graphic video to the Internet blaming Jews for immigration and feminism and showing off the weapons in his car before driving to the synagogue and shooting. He murdered two people and wounded an additional two. Only the synagogue’s security measures, which included locking the doors of the building, prevented a massacre inside the synagogue. German law enforcement eventually pursued the shooter and has him in custody. Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and others expressed concern that the synagogue itself was not guarded by police and that police took more than 10 minutes to arrive at the synagogue.
 
This terrorist attack should be met with a renewed resolve of solidarity within the Jewish community and beyond. We also call on Twitch, the platform the shooter used to upload his video of the massacre, to more closely monitor the content that it allows to be live-streamed. More than 2,000 viewers watched the video of the shooting before it was taken down. Social media platforms must be held responsible for the hate they allow on their platforms.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.or

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

The weekend shooting attacks in Copenhagen on a synagogue and a free speech seminar are frighteningly similar to the January terror spree in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher market.

Two people were killed in the Copenhagen attacks.

B’nai B’rith expresses our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the two men killed in the Copenhagen attacks: Dan Uzan, a 37-year-old member of the local Jewish community, who was serving as a volunteer guarding a synagogue during a bat mitzvah ceremony; and Finn Nørgaard, 55, who was attending the free speech seminar.

Recent attacks on Jewish sites in Europe indicate violence linked to anti-Semitism is becoming more common.

Just days earlier, a German court ruled the firebombing of a synagogue in Wuppertal was not anti-Semitism. Instead, the court determined the attack was meant to bring “attention to the Gaza conflict.”

The ruling sends a dangerous and troubling message that terrorists can hide blatant anti-Semitism behind a different label and escape punishment.

The two adult attackers and their 18-year-old accomplice in the Wuppertal firebombing were ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. The adults involved in the case each received suspended prison terms.

It is a perilous time as anti-Semitic attitudes increasingly masquerade as anti-Israel political statements. Violence against Jews and their houses of worship should be punished accordingly—as the hate crimes they are.