GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Holocaust Remembrance Task Force

27January2011 5:00pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: International Holocaust Remembrance Day is commemorated worldwide on 27 January in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. On 27 January 1945, the advancing Red Army entered the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp complex, liberating more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were for the most part ill or dying.  Days earlier, the SS had forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to evacuate the camp and embark on the infamous 'Death Marches' in which many thousands lost their lives.

The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 to designate 27 January as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the day upon which, every year, the world would mark and remember the Holocaust and its victims. 66 years on from the liberation of Auschwitz, it is more important than ever to remind ourselves of the universal lessons of the Holocaust and to foster a shared culture of remembrance.

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GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Justice is Served: Nazi-Looted Painting Returned to Heir

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Israel National News

27January2011 4:30pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE:  In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan.27), it is timely to report that a small act of justice – 61 years delayed – was carried out this month: A valuable Nazi-looted painting was returned to the grandson of its Jewish owners.

Associated Press reports that Rutgers University was informed over a year ago that it was holding a painting seized by the Nazis in Holland in 1940. Upon investigating the claim and finding it to be valid, Rutgers returned the valuable piece of art.
 

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