Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Sebastian Kurz on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Kurz: “Step up for democracy and tolerance with the utmost consistency”

Today on this 27th of January the liberation of the concentration and death camp Auschwitz has its 70th anniversary. “The name Auschwitz is a symbol for the incredible and unparalleled crime of the Shoa. At the same time Auschwitz is a warning to where anti-Semitism, racism, fanaticism and exclusion eventually lead to” says the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Sebastian Kurz on today’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Today we commemorate millions of Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. We commemorate and are aware of our obligation to draw the right consequences for our actions today”, Kurz underlined.

“We must step up with the utmost consistency for the values of our pluralistic society, for democracy and tolerance and we must resolutely oppose inhuman tendencies in politics and society”, says Kurz. “This means: A definite No to any form of anti-Semitism; No, to exclusion and discrimination:  No, to all violations of human rights!”

“If we want to do justice to the memory of the victims of the past, we must together fight for a society in which human dignity is universally respected”, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration emphasised. Thereby Kurz called to mind Austria’s internal and external commitment like in the framework of the National Action Plan Integration, in international fora like the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and the UN as well as a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).