Joint Declaration of the European Commission and the Czech EU Presidency 29 June 2009

Being aware of a crucial importance of the legacy of Holocaust and Nazi injustice the politicians and experts representing countries and institutions concerned participated in the Holocaust Era Assets Conference organized in the Czech Republic, June 26-30, 2009.

Taking the Terezin Declaration into consideration, the European Commission and the Czech EU-Presidency declare their readiness to make every effort and create a more effective European approach by supporting goals dealing primarily with education and social welfare such as:

-          Holocaust education and research,

-          Social care of survivors,

-          Preservation of memorials in former concentration camps and cemeteries as well as of other sites of memory,

-     Provenance research of Looted Art.

Recognizing the necessity of better international and European networking such as:

-          Transborder cooperation and exchange of information,

-          Transborder networking and exchange of best practice,

-          Transborder support of national initiatives (e.g. by providing multilingual information),

both sides warmly welcome, in line with the Terezin Declaration, the establishment of the “European Shoah Legacy Institute” in Terezin (the Institute) and look forward to its prompt and full functioning. The Institute will serve as a voluntary forum for countries, organisations representing Holocaust survivors´ and other Nazi victims and NGOs to note and promote developments in the areas covered by the conference and the Terezin Declaration.

Following the conference conclusions the European Commission and the Czech Presidency note the importance of the Institute as one of the instruments in the fight against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Europe and the rest of the world and call for other countries and institutions to support and cooperate with this Institute.