HUM in English

HUM is an abbreviation of the Finnish name of the Finnish Holocaust Remembrance Association, Holokaustin uhrien muisto ry. The association was founded in 1993 as Yad Vashem Finnish Branch, but the name was changed in 2012 to describe better the mission of honoring the victims of the Holocaust, both Jewish and Roma.

We still work together with Yad Vashem and under our wings there is ”Yad Vashem Alumni” for teachers, religious and community leaders and civil servants who have participated in Yad Vashem courses in Jerusalem.

The main event of HUM is the annual National Holocaust Remembrance Day event on/around January 27 in cooperation with the government of Finland, with a minister as our keynote speaker.

In 2024, we launched the Holocaust Remembrance Week to broaden the understanding of the Holocaust and the events that led to it. The week starts on January 20th marking the Wannsee conference in 1942 and ends on January 30th marking Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor of the German Reich on January 1933.

On/around November 6th we organize an event commemorating the eight Jewish refugees who were deported to the hands of Nazis on Nov. 6, 1942. We also commemorate the Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day on August 2.

HUM is funded by its members, the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The board of directors 2026-2027:

Chairman: Rev. Teemu Laajasalo, Lutheran Bishop of Helsinki, an IHRA delegate. Chairman since 2025.

Vice-chair: Mr. Risto Huvila, Chairman of the Federation of Finland-Israel Associations, Advisor of the Working Group Against Antisemitism in the Parliament of Finland and an IHRA delegate. Vice-chair since 2018.

Treasurer: Mrs. Chana Montonen Swanström M.A., a language teacher who researched opposition to antisemitism on social media for her master’s thesis. Chana is also a deputy member of the Council of the Jewish Community of Helsinki and a member of the World Jewish Congress’s Jewish Diplomacy Academy.

Secretary: Mr. Ilkka Virtanen, journalist, former Editor-in-Chief of the Readers’ Digest Finland and a UN peace keeping veteran.

Other members: Mr. Markku Haranne, Dr. Jussi Nuorteva, Ms. Kristina Paavela, Mr. Harry Serlo, Ms. Miranda Vuolasranta, and Ms. Niina Väntänen.

Please contact: info@hum.fi