Switzerland's chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2017

The new chairman of the IHRA, FDFA Secretary General Benno Bättig, gives a speech at the Swiss embassy in Berlin on 7 March 2017. © FDFA
The new chairman of the IHRA, FDFA Secretary General Benno Bättig, gives a speech at the Swiss embassy in Berlin on 7 March 2017. © FDFA
Handover ceremony for the IHRA chairmanship, from left to right: Italian Ambassador Sandro De Bernadin (chairman in 2018), Switzerland’s Ambassador to Germany Christine Schraner Burgener, Benno Bättig (current chairman), and Romanian Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu (outgoing chairman). © FDFA
Benno Bättig, FDFA secretary-general and chairman-designate of the IHRA (centre), speaking with Israel's ambassador to Switzerland, Jacob Keidar (right), and François Wisard, head of the FDFA History Unit. ©FDFA
Israel's ambassador to Switzerland, Jacob Keidar, gives a speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ©FDFA
Benno Bättig, FDFA secretary-general and chairman-designate of the IHRA, gives a speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ©FDFA
Vlad Vasiliu, ambassador of Romania to Switzerland and chairman of the IHRA until 7 March 2017, gives a speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ©FDFA
Musical interlude by violinist Piotr Plawner during the ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ©FDFA
François Wisard, head of the FDFA History Unit, gives a speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. © FDFA
Speech by Professor Ivan Lefkovits, Holocaust survivor, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ©FDFA
Professor Ivan Lefkovits, Holocaust survivor, presents his work ‘Memoiren von Holocaust-Überlebenden’ (Memoirs of Holocaust survivors), published in German and soon to be published in French. ©FDFA
David Polnauer, Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Bern, recites the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, at the close of the ceremony. © FDFA
Informal discussion at the end of the ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ©FDFA
Benno Bättig, FDFA secretary-general and chairman-designate of the IHRA (centre), speaks with Otto Lampe, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Switzerland. ©FDFA
Benno Bättig, FDFA secretary-general and chairman-designate of the IHRA, greets Christa Markovits, Holocaust survivor and author of one of the survivor memoirs. © FDFA
Benno Bättig, Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), lays a wreath at the Death Wall in Auschwitz during the March of the Living on 24 April 2017. © FDFA/Andrej Motyl
Benno Bättig, Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), lays a wreath at the Death Wall in Auschwitz during the March of the Living on 24 April 2017. © FDFA/Andrej Motyl
Benno Bättig, Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), commemorates the victims of the Holocaust before a memorial plaque at former death camp Birkenau during the March of the Living on 24 April 2017. ©FDFA/Andrej Motyl
Participants in the March of the Living in Auschwitz on 24 April 2017. ©FDFA/Andrej Motyl
Participants in the March of the Living in Auschwitz on 24 April 2017. ©FDFA/Andrej Motyl

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Last update 27.11.2017