Annan blast Holocaust denying bigots

CNN:

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the world must remember the unique tragedy of the Holocaust and reject all attempts by "bigots" to deny the extermination of the Jews during World War II.

"It must be remembered, with shame and horror, for as long as human memory continues," Annan said Friday in a statement released to mark the first international day commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.

"Holocaust denial is the work of bigots," he said.

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"Remembering is a necessary rebuke to those who say the Holocaust never happened or has been exaggerated," he said. "Millions of Jews and members of other minorities were murdered in the most barbarous ways imaginable. We must never forget those men, women and children, or their agony," Annan said.

Last year, the U.N. General Assembly commemorated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps with a special session, a stark change for a body that was often reluctant to address the extermination of the Jews during World War II.

Soviet troops liberated the largest death camp, Auschwitz, on January 27, 1945. Between 1 million and 1.5 million prisoners -- most of them Jews -- perished in gas chambers or died of starvation and disease there. Overall, 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

On Tuesday, Iran defended its plan to organize the conference on the Holocaust, though it has yet to set a time or place. It also was unclear who might attend.

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People who deny historical fact for what ever reason should be looked at for what they are, ignorant bigots.