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Annually in the end of January, the UN marks the Holocaust Remembrance Day. On January 27, the Red Army troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most terrible Nazi death camps, also known by its Polish name Oswiecim.

On January 25, a memorial service and a forum “We Should Never Forget” took place at the Park East synagogue with the participation of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Rabbi Arthur Schneier.

The event was attended by the Russian Federation permanent representative to UNO and the UN Security Council V. Nebenzia, Russian consul general in New York S. Ovsyannikov, military attaches from the countries which liberated concentration camp prisoners, and high-ranking representatives of the US Congress and other governmental and pubic organizations.

With a blessing of the head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, and the temporary administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Bishop Mathew of Chersonaise, the commemorative event was attended by Rev. Mark Rashkov, head of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA office, who read out a massage from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the participants in the Holocaust Remembrance Day event.

In the course of an exchange of opinions among the attendees, a concern was expressed for the growth of antisemitism throughout the world and appeals were made to oppose together the manifestations of hate and intolerance and to preserve the memory of millions of the Holocaust victims.

In his talks with political, public and religious leaders, Rev. Mark Rashkov spoke about the efforts made by Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church to draw the attention of the world community to the present worldwide problem of antisemitism and religious intolerance, doing it in mass media, on various international platforms and forums and as part of the Interreligious Council in Russia.

 

Moscow Patriarchate Representation in the USA

DECR Communication Service