On January 27, the Moscow Jewish Community Center hosted a ceremony in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

The event, held in the sanctuary of the Moscow JCC’s synagogue, was attended by approximately 200 people. Among them were an estimated 40 representatives of foreign countries, including Germany, Poland, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as guests from Israel. The ceremony also involved officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Ministry of Regional Development, members of the State Duma, and representatives from other religious denominations (the Russian Orthodox Church, the Council of Muftis of Russia, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Russia, and the Associated Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical-Pentecostal Faith), in addition to many leaders from the cultural and social realm.

In his opening remarks, Rabbi Boruch Gorin, the head of the Public Relations Department of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, emphasized to the audience that the ceremony coinciced with the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. According to Rabbi Gorin, the camp was "the symbol of the death machine, killing tens of millions of people." He appealed to everyone to not only remember the victims, but also the many heroes – the people who risked their lives to save others.

Participants viewed film footage of Auschwitz from historical newsreels, after which Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar read a prayer in memory of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust and the 50 million victims of World War II.

Six candles were lit in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered. Rabbi Lazar lit the first candle, followed by one each being lit by German Ambassador Walter Jürgen Schmidt, Serbian Ambassador Jelica Kurjak, Polish Ambassador Jerzy Bahr, Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Russia Igor Kovalevsky, and the head of the Associated Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical-Pentecostal Faith, Bishop Sergei Ryakhovsky.