IHRA deliberations in Ferrara.

Warsaw Ghetto Museum representatives take part in the plenary sessions of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

Over 200 experts and government officials met in Ferrara to deliberate in a number of parallel working groups. The Warsaw Ghetto Museum was invited to present its mission, plans and activity to date at the plenary.

In the course of the IHRA Ferrara meetings Yad Vashem communicated to the representatives of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum its proposals for cooperation in the field of education and for participation of our educators in the various training sessions organised by the Israeli institution; we consider this an outstanding development.

On the final day of the meetings, honorary chairman of IHRA Professor Yehuda Bauer drew attention to the fact that the main problem we face today was not so much Holocaust denial as distortion of the Holocaust record while Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission, stated the following in his letter addressed to the meeting participants: “At a time when antisemitism is on the rise, at a time when questions about the meaning of the Holocaust for today’s Europe come to mind, IHRA’s work is needed more than ever.”

The plenary meetings were held on 26-29 November 2018. The Warsaw Ghetto Museum was represented by deputy director Dr. Hanna Węgrzynek and head of education Dr. Halina Postek, who formed part of the Polish delegation.

IHRA was founded in 1998 under the Stockholm International Forum Declaration on the Holocaust (known as “Stockholm Declaration”) in order to support activities aimed at continuing Holocaust remembrance, education and research. Today, IHRA brings together 32 member states and 11 observer countries. Poland has been one of the IHRA members since 1999.

IHRA holds its semi-annual plenary meetings in order to coordinate activities of political and social leaders, and to exchange information on the current situation in the field of counteracting antisemitism and Holocaust commemoration.