Director-General's remarks at the Opening of the Exhibition “Diplomats Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations”

Opening of the Exhibition “Diplomats Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations”
Monday, 28 April 2025 at 2.00 p.m.
E Building, Palais des Nations

Delivered on behalf of the Director-General by Ms. Alessandra Vellucci, Director, 
United Nations Information Service at Geneva

Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome, and thank you for joining us for this important exhibition: “Diplomats Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations”.

I am here on behalf of Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, who could not be here with us today to open this exhibition. So, I will read the following statement on her behalf.

“This exhibition honours the extraordinary moral courage of diplomats who, during the Holocaust, risked everything — their careers, their families, their safety and, in many cases, their lives — to save Jews from persecution at the hands of the Nazis.

In a time of unimaginable darkness, these individuals faced a stark choice: complicity or resistance. As the machinery of death rolled forward — often aided by bureaucratic indifference — diplomats like Aristides de Sousa Mendes and Raoul Wallenberg chose humanity. They defied orders, bent rules, and used their positions to shield Jews from arrest, deportation, and death. When doing nothing would have been easier, they chose to act.

Their courage is more than history — it is a call to action. These diplomats demonstrated that individual responsibility and ethical leadership can make a profound difference. They were not only representatives of their states; they became guardians of universal values. Their actions embodied the principles that lie at the heart of the United Nations: dignity, peace, justice, and the protection of human rights.

This exhibition also marks a significant milestone — the 80th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and the Second World War. As we reflect on this anniversary, the theme adopted by the United Nations for its Holocaust outreach programme this year is: “Holocaust remembrance and education for dignity and human rights.”

This theme reminds us that remembering the Holocaust is not just about the past — it is also about the present, and our ongoing responsibility to stand up against hatred and discrimination wherever it occurs. It also tells us that education is the key to preserving the truth and that we need to promote and develop it. It also underlines the value of the Holocaust educational programme that the United Nations develops and promotes every year — and of which this exhibition is part — especially on this important anniversary.

Eighty years on from the end of the Holocaust, the United Nations remains resolute in its commitment to combat antisemitism, racism, and bigotry. In a time when hatred and division are again on the rise, the moral courage shown by the diplomats honoured in this exhibition serves both as a tribute to those who came before us and as a powerful challenge to future generations: to uphold the dignity and human rights of all people.

Thank you. »