International Holocaust Remembrance Day to be marked in Chișinău with national rally, exhibition and book launch

International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked in the Republic of Moldova with a rally held at the Victims of Fascism Memorial. On the eve of January 27, the Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova launched the 2026 Commemoration Program – The Year of Remembrance and Reflection, a project dedicated to education, remembrance and assuming responsibility for the tragedy of Holocaust.

The program begins with #WeRemember campaign, an international call for remembrance, solidarity and responsibility, and includes a series of activities throughout the year: official ceremonies, installation of Stolpersteine memorial stones, marking the former Chișinău Ghetto with stone commemorative elements, production of a documentary film, thematic exhibitions, educational seminars and an international conference.

The visit of the World Jewish Congress delegation highlights the international relevance of these initiatives and the consistent support for education, remembrance and combating antisemitism.

Holocaust on the territory of today’s Republic of Moldova took place during the World War II, after the occupation of Bessarabia in 1941. The Jewish community was deported to ghettos and camps in Transnistria, where thousands of people died due to inhuman conditions, starvation and executions. Chișinău Ghetto, established in the summer of 1941, housed over 11,000 Jews, most of whom were later deported to Transnistria; few survived. Organized deportations and systematic violence were part of the Nazi genocide and that of its allies against the Jews in the region.

On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the National Library of the Republic of Moldova is organizing the thematic exhibition “The Chișinău Pogrom (1903) in the context of crimes against humanity”. Also today, the book “The Truth about 1903 Pogrom”, 2025 edition, in English, will be launched, authored by Jozefina CUȘNIR, PhD in philology, coordinating scientific researcher at the Institute of Cultural Heritage.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked annually on January 27 and represents the first universal commemoration initiative dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. This day was established by United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. 60/7, adopted on November 1, 2005, during the 42nd plenary meeting. The date of January 27 has a profound significance, being linked to the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and the end of one of the darkest periods in human history. During a special meeting held on January 24, 2005, the UN General Assembly marked 60 years since the liberation of these camps and the end of the Holocaust.

Holocaust led to the extermination of approximately six million European Jews, as well as millions of people of other nationalities and groups persecuted by the German Nazi regime. Commemorating the victims serves to keep the memory of the tragedy alive, to honor the suffering of those who lost their lives, and to remind us of the importance of combating hatred, antisemitism and discrimination so that such crimes never happen again.