On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Brandenburg Gate will be illuminated with the words "We Remember" in the evening. (Archive image)
© dpa
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin will be illuminated from sunset onwards with the slogan of the international remembrance campaign "#WeRemember".
This was announced by the Senate Chancellery. On January 27, people around the world will commemorate the victims of National Socialism and the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.
Auschwitz-Birkenau stands today, like no other place, for the inhuman extermination policy of the National Socialists, said Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU). "Six million Jews were murdered – women, men and children. We will never forget this immeasurable suffering," he declared.
"Berlin is the city from which the Holocaust was planned and organised. Naming a street after the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in the heart of our city is therefore much more than a symbol." It is a sign of remembrance and warning – and a clear commitment against anti-Semitism, hatred and misanthropy. "At the same time, it is an unwavering commitment to Jewish life in Germany and to our responsibility to protect it permanently," said Wegner. Berlin is to have a street in the government district named after the Yad Vashem International Holocaust Memorial. To this end, a section of Dorotheenstraße leading to the Reichstag building is to be renamed.