To make a secure online donation, please click the button below
On the occasion of International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (AIPG) honors the memory of the six million Jewish victims, the estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million Roma victims of the Roma Genocide, and all those who perished under Nazi persecution. Created in 2006 from the memory of Holocaust victims, AIPG was founded with the mission to prevent people anywhere in the world from suffering persecution and violence motivated by their identity.
The Holocaust teaches us that genocide is not an isolated or sudden event. It results from long social, historical, political, and economic processes in which warning signs and risk factors can be identified. Comparative studies of the Holocaust and other episodes of mass violence show that prevention must also be a continuous process. Primary prevention—acting early to prevent dehumanization and exclusion—is the most effective, just as in public health it is more effective to prevent the spread of disease than to address its consequences.
AIPG’s Warren Educational Policies Program (WEPP), named in honor of Holocaust survivor Naomi Kaplan Warren, whose legacy is a source of inspiration, works specifically in the field of education to transform it into a tool for long-term prevention. The program collaborates with governments to strengthen appreciation of human dignity, respect for differences, and democratic culture—essential elements for building more inclusive and just societies.
In Brazil, where WEPP has operated since 2016, the educational legacy of Holocaust memory has proven critical in times of growing disinformation, misinformation, and spread of hate, both online and offline. Their Citizenship and Democracy from School program was developed at a time when public consultation already revealed growing social fragmentation marked by intensified prejudice, denial of identities, rising intolerance, and identity-based violence. Disinformation, as history demonstrates, has been a powerful tool of division—in Nazi Germany from 1933 onward, in Rwanda in the years preceding the 1994 genocide, or more recently in the campaigns targeting the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, among many other examples. The project’s methodology guides students through five thematic pillars—identity, dignity, human rights, democracy, and citizenship—equipping them to recognize how stereotypes and prejudices fuel discrimination, to critically analyze media and digital information, and to become informed, active democratic citizens.
Since its inception, the program has reached more than 390,000 students and trained 13,000 educators across 17 states and counting. Impact evaluations show that students who participated doubled their understanding of human rights and dignity, and demonstrated greater empathy and respect for diversity.
Looking to the future, AIPG believes education must increasingly affirm itself as a space for building human values and resisting narratives of hatred. The Holocaust tragically shows how far dehumanization can go when intolerance and violence are normalized. The path forward is clear: invest in education that unites memory and future. Remembering the consequences of hatred—as seen in the Holocaust and so many other episodes of mass violence—helps form new generations prepared to defend democracy and build more just, inclusive, and caring societies. While we know that solutions to social problems do not rest solely with schools, schools remain the most important space democratic societies have to safeguard their future as democracies..
As we commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, we reaffirm that remembrance demands responsibility. Human rights were not granted from above—they were won by people who learned to question the injustices of their world and claim their rights. Democracy remains alive only when each generation learns to care for it.
This statement draws on insights shared in our recent interview with Nova Escola: https://novaescola.org.br/conteudo/22500/holocausto-manipulacao-da-informacao-educacao-midiatica
