UCC, UCCLA Mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

 Ottawa, January 27, 2011 - The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) issued the following statement on the significance of the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is a commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust.

“Today we remember and condemn the horrible crimes inflicted by the Nazi regime on millions of Jews and millions of other victims of Hitler’s regime, including Ukrainians, Roma, homosexuals, Catholics, Poles, and disabled persons,” stated UCC President Paul Grod.   “The murderous acts of terror committed by the Nazi regime against millions of Eastern and Central Europeans remind us of the carnage inflicted by both Soviet and Nazi totalitarian regimes in a very short time period on innocent populations.  Even in the face of such evil, many Ukrainians risked their lives to  help their neighbours, earning thousands of them the title of “Righteous among the Nations.”
The fourth largest group of “Righteous among the Nations” is comprised of 2,272 Ukrainians honoured at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
In a statement by Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association Chairman, Roman Zakaluzny said: “As we commemorate the solemn anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp [in 1945]… Let us not forget that the Holocaust was not only a crime against specific communities but was also a crime against all of humanity. UCCLA reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that all genocides, including the Shoah, are commemorated equally in the taxpayer-funded Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in Winnipeg.”