Slovakia honors victims of the Holocaust

Slovakia held a memorial day for Holocaust victims in which it commemorated those who were murdered by the Nazis and by racial violence.

The annual commemoration has been ongoing since 2001 when it was established by the Slovak parliament.

It is held on the date in 1941 when the Slovak authorities released a decree, the “Jewish Codex,” which led to the deportation of the country’s Jews, and contained some of the harshest anti-Jewish laws in Europe, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Over 70,000 Slovak Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

The event, organized by the Slovak Jewish community and the Slovak National Museum – Museum of Jewish Culture, was held at the Central Holocaust Memorial in Bratislava.

The commemoration included the reading of the names of Holocaust victims throughout towns in Slovakia as well as commemorations, exhibits, conferences and educational events.

The ceremony was attended by Holocaust survivors, Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová, Chairman of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Boris Kollár, and the Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger.