"A letter of intention to establish new relations between the Task Force for international cooperation on education, memory and research on the Holocaust (Itf) and the Council of Europe, that, through its 47 members states, is committed to promoting human rights, democracy and the constitutional state". This is how a release from the CoE explains the document that its secretary general Terry Davis is going to sign today, November 10th, in Vienna on the 70th anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass. The Austrian capital will also host several meetings today. They include "Learnt your lesson? The memory of the Holocaust and fight against anti-Semitism in 2008". The letter of intention, explains the CoE, "will confirm that Davis and the president of Itf, Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, are truly willing to develop a bilateral ‘memorandum of understanding’, outlining the areas and mechanisms of action of the future cooperation between Itf and CoE". Born on the initiative of the Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998, Itf currently counts 25 member states plus several governmental and non-governmental organisations all over the world. Its purpose is to raise the political leaders’ awareness of the need to promote education, memory and research on the Holocaust, both nationally and internationally.
