(JTA) — The Auschwitz Jewish Center received the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award for its work to educate youth about the Nazi genocide of European Jewry.
The presentation on International Holocaust Remembrance Day marked the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp and was among hundreds of commemorations held this week around the world.
At the Auschwitz center, located just outside the gates of the concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Austria’s ambassador to Poland, Herbert Krauss, commended the center for its “commitment to commemorate the town’s Jewish past and conceptualizing education programs with local youth."
Krauss presented the award on behalf of the non-profit Austrian Service Abroad organization, which initiated the honor in 2006 to recognize Holocaust educational programs around the world.
The center, linked with the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue, opened in 2000 with a mandate to educate about prewar Jewish life, the Holocaust and the dangers of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Since 2006, the center has been affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York.
