We live in a critical time period, and at the same time a designer.
There are fewer and fewer survivors living among us who can testify and tell in the first person about what happened in the Holocaust.
This requires us to find new ways to perpetuate, document, and make accessible knowledge, in part to prevent Holocaust deniers from distorting history regarding the most heinous crime committed against humanity.
Tomorrow, 13 October, the Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Lofven, will host the Malmo International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and the Fight Against Antisemitism (Remember ReAct), which aims to formulate concrete and common steps for Holocaust remembrance and the fight against anti-Semitism.
During the plague we saw it again before our eyes: when there is a crisis in the world, there will always be those who blame the Jews.
At the time of the flare-up of the conflict with Gaza, Europe has witnessed a horrific rise in anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews, including in Sweden.
In Malmö, a 12-year-old Jewish girl found a derogatory remark about Israel written next to her wardrobe at school;
In Gothenburg, a man wearing a kippah to express solidarity with his Jewish friends was attacked.
I loathe these heinous acts.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson initiated the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 1998.
Since then, Swedish governments have been looking for ways to combat anti-Semitism, with an emphasis on education.
Israel and Yad Vashem were allies essential to the effort.
It yielded results, but there was still a lot of work to be done.
A recently published report points to a decline in prejudices about anti-Semitism among Swedes, but warns that anti-Semitism is more common among adults, among people born outside Europe and among those of Muslim faith.
The positive developments do not herald the end of the struggle.
The war on anti-Semitism remains a top priority for the Swedish government.
In January 2020, Prime Minister Lufthansa invited world leaders, academies and NGOs to attend the Malmo Forum.
Delegations were invited to present commitments consisting of new and concrete initiatives.
The Swedish government has fully approved the definition of the work of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, including the list of examples.
Next year, a Holocaust Memorial Museum will be established in Stockholm.
Efforts to study the Holocaust and anti-Semitism have intensified.
Funding is provided for educational tours to sites commemorating the Holocaust.
In the fight against anti-Semitism, Sweden wants to work more with Israel, with Yad Vashem and with Jewish organizations.
We look forward to the participation of Israel and President Yitzhak Herzog in the Malmo Forum.
We are committed to learning from each other and working together, because the fight against anti-Semitism is a common standing of all of us for a cultured society.
The author is the Swedish Ambassador to Israel
