The conference was co-organised by the European Commission and the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is one of numerous events honouring the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, commemorated on 27 January 2025. The speakers of the conference included a Holocaust survivor, Mala Tribich, and European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life Katharina von Schnurbein.

Today, Auschwitz is a symbol of the Shoah and the atrocities of the Second World War. In 2005, the United Nations designated 27 January as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.