Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start by thanking my esteemed colleagues from the European Union, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the World Jewish Congress for bringing this exhibition to Geneva. Thank you for your strong commitment to the remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust!
My deepest thanks also go to Luigi Toscano for his remarkable work.
Today, I stand here to speak for the 6 million of our people, for whom the gates of hell were broken into too late. The men and women, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, entire families including 1.5 million children that were brutally murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators just because they were Jewish.
Today, I am their voice and follow their command:
לזכור ולא לשכוח - Remember us. Never forget.
Zelda Shneirson, a unique Israeli poet who lived in Jerusalem during the second World War wrote this poem of remembrance: לכל איש יש שם “Every Man Has a Name”
-which became later the title of our commemoration tradition, every year on the Holocaust Remembrance Day, to read thousands of names of those who perished, so their memory will never fade away.
Every man has a name
given to him by God
and by his father and mother
Every man has a name
given to him by his enemies
and by his love
Every man has a name
given to him by the sea
and by his death
This moving exhibition is putting a name and a life story behind the faces, behind the numbers that we cannot comprehend; behind the catastrophe that has no precedent and is impossible to grasp.
The survivors did not and do not forget anything: The helplessness, the endless suffering, the flames and the smoke, the bereavement and the loss. Nevertheless, they also remember, with deep gratitude, the day of liberation, the entry of the Red Army into Auschwitz, the immense sacrifice of the allies.
The survivors, who were witnesses to the horrific depths to which humanity can sink, are the heroes. After the liberation, they have chosen to live, to build families, to contribute to our society. Many of them came to Israel, before its Independence, immediately after the War, to start a new life in their ancestral land and make it a home and a guarantee that the Holocaust will never happen again.
Our commitment to them and to the 6 million Jews and members of other minorities – Never Again – is not enough seeing the alarming rise of anti-Semitism and Anti-Semitic attacks all over the world.
When Jewish communities need to be protected on a daily basis and cannot enjoy basic freedom and security, then we understand that our commitment to remembrance needs to become a promise to fight antisemitism.
During the last couple of days, 50 leaders, kings and heads of States gathered in Jerusalem to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In his speech, the President of Israel, Ruvi Rivlin, emphasized that this historic gathering was not only important for Israel and the Jewish People, but for all humanity.
I will conclude with his words:
“We remember the victims of the Holocaust and we also mark the victory of freedom and human dignity. I hope and pray that the message will go out to every country on Earth, that the Leaders of the World will stay united in the fight against racism, antisemitism and extremism. This is the call of our time. This is our challenge. This is our choice."