Tuesday’s solemn commemoration marks the day 81 years ago that the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp – where over a million people were murdered – was liberated by Allied forces towards the end of World War Two.

Commenting on the disturbing rise of antisemitism in recent years - including the “heinous attacks” targeting Jewish communities in Sydney and Manchester – Mr. Türk warned that “hatred and dehumanization are creeping into our daily lives.”

He urged people to remember the lessons of the Holocaust, during which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators.

“The genocide did not begin with concentration camps and gas chambers; it started with apathy and silence in the face of injustice, and with the corrosive dehumanization of the other.”

The need for remembrance

The central theme of this year's commemoration is Holocaust Remembrance for Dignity and Human Rights.

Reflecting this theme and addressing some of today's challenges, the High Commissioner emphasised the need for “laws that prohibit discrimination, and politicians who do not polarize by calling out differences – but unite by calling out injustice.”

To protect humanity from repeating its darkest chapters, Mr Türk stated: “We need education about the Holocaust, human rights for all ages, and robust, inclusive systems to moderate digital content, so that people can express their concerns without fear.”

Reasons for hope

Calling on the world to use available tools today such as international human rights law, unprecedented access to verifiable information and “the memory of how exclusion can turn into annihilation”, Mr Türk demanded action to counter the “plague” of racism, antisemitism, and dehumanisation.

“Together, we must challenge exceptionalism, supremacy, and bigotry wherever we encounter them: at the dinner table, at our workplaces, and on social media,” the rights chief continued.

“Each of us can be an architect of a world free from discrimination and intolerance.”

Echoing the words of Anne Frank and remembering her step sister, Eva Schloss, who died a few weeks ago, Mr Türk emphasised that “nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

Listen to our interview with Ms. Schloss, who spoke to UN News in Geneva in 2018, here.

The UN commemorates

New York - United Nations Holocaust Memorial Observance

• Start Time: 11:00am EST, General Assembly Hall, United Nations Headquarters

Exhibition: Between Life and Death: Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust | Visitors' Lobby, United Nations Headquarters |15 January - 20 February 2026

Exhibition: Holocaust Remembrance - A Commitment to Truth | Visitors' Lobby, United Nations Headquarters | 15 January - 8 February 2026

Geneva - Holocaust Remembrance

• Start Time: 1pm CET, Palais des Nations, Room XVI