Yehuda Bauer and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)

Professor Yehuda Bauer is a world-renowned scholar of the Holocaust, antisemitism, and genocide. Nevertheless, his activities and impact in public policy have become a major focus of his efforts, particularly in recent years. This article examines Bauer's impact on perhaps the most prominent of these efforts: that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The IHRA has become a major factor in international Holocaust remembrance and in combating antisemitism. Drawing on conversations with Bauer and close colleagues from academia and diplomacy in IHRA, as well as their personal experience, with one of the authors being a longstanding student and colleague (Porat) and the other being involved with IHRA since its inception 20 years ago (Weitzman), the authors describe Bauer's role as the “founding father” of the IHRA, how the organization began, the specific and unique nature of the IHRA, and Bauer's role in two of the IHRA's most important achievements: the Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion and the Working Definition of Antisemitism. We also briefly discuss some of the issues and challenges that the IHRA has experienced as part of its growth from the original five members to its current configuration of 35 countries and Bauer's assessment of where the IHRA stands now and its possible future.