Liberation80: Awards for Combating Intolerance Presented at Holocaust Museum

Sered, January 30 (TASR) - A commemorative concert took place at the Holocaust Museum in the town of Sered (Trnava region) on Wednesday (January 29) evening to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in Poland. A number of figures and institutions were honoured for their lifelong or long-term contributions to the fight against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia. Awards were received by the founder and first president of the Association of Jewish Women of Slovakia Ester Marta Gyoriova, journalist and publicist Sona Gyarfasova, researcher at the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Katarina Meskova Hradska, and chairman of the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Slovakia Richard Duda. Also decorated were former Slovak Government Proxy for the Roma Communities Jan Hero, specialist in human rights and the rights of people belonging to ethnic minorities Miriam Joklova, violinist, composer and music lecturer Barbora Botosova, head of the Association for Culture, Education and Communication since 2014 Magdalena Rothova, and Holocaust survivor and Pan-European University rector Juraj Stern. Among the organisations, an award went to the Austrian Cultural Forum, which organises artistic, scientific and educational events throughout Slovakia. The Polish Institute in Bratislava, whose task is to disseminate information about Poland and showcase Polish culture, art and science, also received an award. Both organisations cooperate with the Holocaust Museum in Sered. An award was also received by musicians and teachers and married couple Marian Varhanik and Eva Varhanikova. Accolades in memoriam were bestowed on Jozef Klement, who was a prominent representative of the Jewish community in Slovakia, as well as professor Pavel Traubner, a Holocaust survivor who rose to become Dean of the Medical Faculty at Bratislava-based Comenius University thanks to his professional skills and expertise. He participated in setting up the Holocaust Museum in Sered. ko/df