In her speech at the memorial event, Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas emphasized that history holds many tragic pages that we must remember and learn from every day. "History tries to teach us, yet humanity has not yet learned from it. We must remember that the desire to annihilate a nation leads to the moral downfall of humanity, and it is our duty to stand for humanistic values and the right of nations to self-determination. Let us remember how fragile freedom is and stand together against fear."
Additionally, on the same day, a commemorative event will take place at Vabamu, where researchers from Tallinn University will introduce a newly completed interactive map application of Holocaust sites in Estonia. In the evening, the victims will be remembered with a concert titled "I Lift My Soul" at the Estonia Concert Hall.
In cooperation with the Yad Vashem Educational Center, a series of webinars on the topic "Teaching the Holocaust Through Art" will take place (the next seminars will be held on February 3 and 17). These seminars focus on introducing the Holocaust through art and offer practical tools for teaching. The training sessions will be conducted in English and are intended for history, art, and social studies teachers in Estonia. More information about the training sessions can be found here, and registration is available here.
Estonia has been observing the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust and Other Crimes Against Humanity since 2003. The events are organized by the Ministry of Education and Research in cooperation with the Estonian Jewish Community, the Estonian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
