Various religious denominations from Iraq came together to mark the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust and the more than 6 million Jews who were killed during World War II.
Christian, Muslim, and Yezidi communities across Iraq sent messages to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. The President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, tweeted that Holocaust Remembrance Day is “a reminder that our humanity has come a long way to stop and think about the victims of this genocide.”
Yezidi activist Nadia Murad, who was abducted and sexually abused by ISIS after members of her family were murdered by the terrorist organisation, commented that genocide affects all generations and that “We must keep the memory of those killed alive by striving to make ‘never again’ a reality.”
A woman who represented Iraq’s once-large Christian minority published a message about her visit to the Holocaust memorial, saying, “Everyone has a right to live in dignity and be appreciated.”
A visit of Muslim religious leaders to Auschwitz attracted widespread attention across the Arab World, where Holocaust denial and latent pro-Nazi sentiments are widespread due to the Third Reich’s active cultivation of a close relationship with the Middle East’s non-Jews, whom they considered as natural allies against their wartime enemies – the Americans, British, and French.
The growing recognition of the Holocaust in a country that is usually dominated by antisemitic sentiments is a positive sign in the region. Historically, the Arab states have regarded Holocaust recognition as implicit support for the State of Israel.
“This is something that wouldn’t have happened a few years ago in the Arab world,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, wrote about the Holocaust, adding, “This is related to normalisation with Israel.”
Iraq's Christians, Muslims, and Yezidis unite to remember Holocaust
EPA-EFE//ALEJANDRO PRIETO
A concentration camp uniform used by Jewish survivor Ide Taube, now exhibited at the Shoa Museum in Jerusalem.
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