A visit to Auschwitz and the past

I was also accompanied by students from the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oswiecim, who work to build bridges among people and nations. L'dor v'dor, Marian Turski said to me - Hebrew for "from generation to generation", the passing on of wisdom. It is for this reason that Auschwitz-Birkenau is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. We cannot build the future without remembering the past; what happened once can recur.

Combating hatred is among the cardinal missions of the United Nations. Our human rights mechanisms work to protect people. Our special courts and tribunals strive to combat impunity, deliver justice and deter violations. UN special advisers on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect scan the world for the precursors of atrocity crimes. The Alliance of Civilizations initiative seeks to counter manifestations of hatred, from anti-Semitism and Islamophobia to ultra-nationalism and bias against minorities. Our new "Rights Up Front" effort seeks to strengthen early action to prevent grave abuses of human rights.

For almost a decade, the "United Nations and the Holocaust Outreach Programme" has been working with teachers and students on all continents to promote tolerance and universal values. The program's newest educational package, produced in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will help introduce Holocaust studies into classrooms in countries ranging from Brazil and Nigeria to Russia and Japan. At this year's remembrance ceremony at the UN Headquarters, the featured speaker will be Steven Spielberg, whose Shoah Institute for Visual History and Education was a landmark in preserving survivor testimony.

A few steps from the crematorium at Auschwitz, I took a moment to myself for reflection. I touched a barbed wire fence - no longer electrified but still sharp and intimidating. I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of what had happened within, and humbled by the courage and sacrifice of the soldiers and leaders of many nations who defeated the Nazi menace.

My hope is that our generation, and those to come, will summon that same sense of collective purpose to prevent such horror from happening again anywhere, to anyone or any group, and build a world of equality for all.

The author is the secretary-general of the United Nations.