UNESCO Update: Wiesenthal Center requested by France to assist in examining World War burial sites

July 1, 2018

At the 42nd meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Manama, Bahrain, H.E. Laurent Stefanini, Ambassador of France to UNESCO, requested the Simon Wiesenthal Center to assist in identifying and removing any Nazi burial sites among the World War I cemeteries listed in the joint Franco-Belgian nomination for World Heritage inscription. Dr Shimon Samuels, the Center’s Director for International Relations who is also Permanent Observer to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, alerted the committee last week that these Nazi burial sites also currently serve as shrines for neo-Nazis. 

There are 139 graveyards and memorials to be examined, among which there are indications of inclusion of World War II burials or post-World War neo-Nazi shrines.

Pictured right: Ambassador Stefanini with Dr. Shimon Samuels at the 42nd WHC in Bahrain

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. Join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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