Decade of Youth and Remembrance

"Decade of Youth and Remembrance"

© Dr Violetta Frys
Signing of the proclamation Decade of Youth and Remembrance


The proclamation of the "Decade of Youth and Remembrance" was signed on 9 November 2023. In it, the participants pledge to work together to actively promote youth and remembrance, thereby contributing to the well-being of all inhabitants of the partner regions and to peace and freedom in Europe. The long-term goal is to address events of the past with consideration and respect for individual fates and perceptions of history and to make difficult topics, often associated with loss, national traumas and prejudices, conscious and accessible through intercultural dialogue.

Certificate Proclamation Decade of Remembrance


Among other things, "patrons" were chosen to carry the message of solidarity of the "International Alliance for Peace and Cohesion" into the world. Their fates are a reminder that we must stand up for each other and actively live and protect the values of freedom, tolerance and mutual respect so that unspeakable crimes such as those committed against these people are never repeated.

"Each individual bears all the responsibility."

             Willi Graf

  • Willi Graf

    Willi Graf
    Bavarian Main State Archives
    Willi Graf

    Willi Graf was a member of the "White Rose" resistance group and had rebelled against the Hitler regime in the circle of siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl by distributing leaflets, among other things, as a result of which he was sentenced to death and executed on 12 October 1943.

  • Ulma family

    © Kolekcja dr. Mateusza Szpytmy
    Blessed Ulma family

    Józef Ulma and his heavily pregnant wife Wiktoria hid two Jewish families during the German occupation of Poland in the Second World War, despite the threat to their lives, in order to save them from the Holocaust. However, the couple were betrayed and shot with their seven children and the eight Jews they had hidden on 24 March 1944.
    Pope Francis recognised the martyrdom of the Polish couple and their seven children in a decree in December 2022. The entire family was beatified on 10 September 2023

  • Omeljan Kovch

    Pierre-e Gougelet
    Blessed Omeljan Kowtsch

    Omeljan Kowtsch was a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest who tried to save as many Jews as possible from death by baptising them. He was murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp on 25 March 1944. His beatification was officially proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in Ukraine on 27 June 2001.