The 27 January was established by the European Parliament as the Official Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity, the date on which the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland was liberated.
On this occasion, several events will be held tomorrow in memory of those events. For the tenth consecutive year, the Spanish Senate is commemorating this day at 1 pm with an event organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain and the Sefarad-Israel Centre, which can only be followed via YouTube on the channels of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, the Sefarad-Israel Centre and the Senate’s Twitter account. The event will be chaired by the President of the Senate, Pilar Llop, and will include a speech by the First Vice-President of the Government and Minister of the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory, Carmen Calvo. The President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, Isaac Benzaquén, the Vice-President of Amical Mauthausen and other camps, Concepción Díaz Berzosa, and the Director of the Institute of Roma Culture, Diego Luis Fernández, will also speak. Between the speeches, there will be musical interludes and 6 candles will be lit in memory of the victims, the survivors, their rescuers and for the commitment to Memory.
For its part, the Instituto Italiano de Cultura of Madrid, in collaboration with Forma International and the Centro Sefarad-Israel, is also celebrating this day with the screening of the documentary The Longest Journey: The Jews of Rhodes, directed by Ruggero Gabbai. The screening will be accompanied by a videoconference interview with Sami Modiano by Ruggero Gabbai, in which the director of the Instituto Italiano de Cultura, Marialuisa Pappalardo, and the director of the Centro Sefarad-Israel, Miguel de Lucas, will also take part. The video conference with Sami Modiano will be broadcast on IIC Madrid’s YouTube channels and on its website at 6pm.
