International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Nairobi
28.01.2026
On January 27, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, a ceremony was held at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi, attended by the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Marcin Kubiak. The guest of honor at the ceremony was Holocaust survivor Wanda Albiński, the daughter of Halina Szenicer-Rotstein, a ghetto doctor and rescued by "Żegota”.
Keynote speakers included Zainab Hawa Bangura, Director-General of the UN in Nairobi; Gideon Behar, Ambassador of Israel to Kenya; Sebastian Groth, Ambassador of Germany; David Silverstein, President of the Hebrew Congregation in Nairobi; Director Lindsay Kiptiness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of the Republic of Kenya; and invited guests included members of the diplomatic corps in Kenya and students.
Chargé d’afafires a.i. Marcin Kubiak, in his address, noted that in occupied Poland, German terror directed against Poles and Jews was systematic and brutal, and that Poland was the only country where Nazi Germany punished any form of assistance to Jews by killing helpers and their families. He emphasized that today's commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz is not only a tribute to the victims but also a reminder of the need to counter hate speech and intolerance. He noted that in Kenya, there is a special task: to testify that Europe – with its pain, history, reconciliation – can inspire the building of communities that are not afraid of difficult memories, but put dialogue and solidarity in its light.
