Dear members of the 平特五不中 community,
This coming Saturday 鈥� January 27th 鈥� is International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD). The date marks the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp.
As part of the many commitments made in the 2022 Initiative against Islamophobia and Antisemitism, 平特五不中 began commemorating IHRD last year. We will do so again, tomorrow, Thursday Jan 25th at 11 a.m. To facilitate and maximize participation, the event will be held online.
All members of our campus community are warmly invited to attend. The commemoration will feature a range of speakers including student leaders, faculty members, spiritual leaders, and community members. .
平特五不中鈥檚 commemoration of the IHRD offers an opportunity to recall the catastrophic loss of human life that occurred during the Holocaust and to honour the memory of all those who perished. The event also prompts a reflection on the cause of these atrocities. Antisemitism 鈥� explicit, profound, and government-sponsored 鈥� lay at the root of the murder of six million Jews across Europe between 1933 and 1945.
Throughout this period, the Roma and Sinti peoples, as well as persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, Slavic people, and Jehovah鈥檚 Witnesses also suffered intense persecution at the hands of the Nazi regime.
While the Holocaust ended nearly eight decades ago, the importance of remembrance at this time cannot be overstated.
Hamas鈥� attack of October 7, 2023 was the deadliest day that Jews have experienced since 1945. In the wake of this massacre and the ensuing, devastating war in the Middle East, we have seen a rise in hate-motivated crimes, both worldwide and here at home in Montreal where particularly visible events have targeted the Jewish community.
Against this backdrop, we must be consistent and unequivocal in denouncing, resisting, and duly addressing any and all acts of intolerance, intimidation, and oppression. Simultaneously, we are called again to foreground care and compassion in our engagements with each other.
Tomorrow鈥檚 commemoration of the IHRD provides occasion for each of us, individually and as a community, to reaffirm 平特五不中鈥檚 absolute condemnation of antisemitism and staunch commitment to preventing and addressing it. Please join us.
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Sincerely,
Angela Campbell, Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies)
Fabrice Labeau, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning)
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