U.S. Department of State

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lays a wreath at Yad Vashem during a ceremony in Jerusalem for Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 8, 2013. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers opening remarks at the Annual Department of State Holocaust Commemoration at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. on April 27, 2012. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

‘May Their Memory Be for a Blessing’

A candle is lit in front of a memorial wall holding the engraved names of tens of thousands of Holocaust victims in the Holocaust Memorial Center at the United Nations Holocaust remembrance day in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 27, 2012. [AP File Photo]

About the Author: Hannah Rosenthal serves as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

On April 19, people all over the world will commemorate Yom Ha’Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Judaism, when we remember the dead we say “zikron l’vrach“— may their memory be for a blessing. On this day, we stand united against one of the most sinister and evil chapters of history, scarred by the unthinkable deeds of governments and collaborators and the silence of so many.

In my job as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, two of the tools I use in my outreach to governments and civil society are education and dialogue. They are mandatory first steps to prevent and overcome ignorance and hate. We must advance the universal message that such evil must be confronted rather than ignored. We must forge connections between students, between communities, and between faiths.

In January, I was honored to attend a United Nations… more »