Dear Mr. Sobol
Dear Holocaust survivors,
Director-General Valovaya,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, we remember and mourn the victims of the Holocaust, 6 million of our people, entire families, one million and a half children and babies, two thirds of European Jewry before the war.
Nazi Germany tried to destroy the Jewish People in an act of ridding the world of the Jews. But Nazi race theory cost the lives of over 66 million people.
So it must be clear: Antisemitism does not stop with the Jews. Antisemitism and racism are a malignant disease that destroys and pulls societies apart from within - and no society and no democracy is immune!
When the Red Army arrived at the gates of Auschwitz to liberate this Nazi extermination camp, it was too late for so many.
Vladimir Brylev, a soldier who entered the camp, wrote to his wife:
“I saw everything with my own eyes…not far away from the death barracks is the crematorium. Can you imagine how many people the Germans have burned there? Next to this exploded crematorium, there are bones, bones and piles of shoes, several meters high. There are children’s shoes in the pile…Total horror…impossible to describe.”
75 years after the Holocaust, antisemitism continues to raise its ugly head, to harm, to kill!
It is spreading across the world. It reinvents itself and mutates. Jewish communities are not safe in Europe and other parts of the world. They cannot enjoy basic freedom and security.
Last week, almost 50 leaders, kings and heads of State gathered in Jerusalem to mark the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. They strongly stated their commitment to the Remembrance of the Holocaust and to the fight against Antisemitism.
As living witnesses to Nazi atrocities and the death camps dwindle in number, we must redouble our effort to educate the whole society, not to let ignorance take over, because ignorance is fertile ground for hatred.
J’aimerais donc sincèrement vous remercier, Paul, d’être venu de Bruxelles pour témoigner devant nous, à la tribune des Nations unies, et partager votre histoire. Une histoire parsemée de douleurs, d’horreurs si difficiles à raconter – mais ô combien importantes à entendre. Mais votre histoire est également celle d’une victoire – la plus belle des victoires sur le nazisme: vous êtes revenu des camps, vous vous êtes marié avec votre tendre Nelly – et vous avez eu des enfants. Votre présence est la plus grande des victoires.
In 1961, At the opening of the trial of the notorious Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Gideon Hausner, heading the team of prosecutors, said:
"When I stand before you here, Judges of Israel, to lead the Prosecution of Adolf Eichmann, I am not standing alone. With me are six million accusers. But they cannot rise to their feet and point an accusing finger and cry: "I accuse." […] Therefore, I will be their voice and spokesman…” - End of quote.
One of the testimonies in the trial, that became engraved in our collective memory as the emblem of the catastrophe and trauma of the Shoah, was that of Auschwitz survivor Yehiel De-Nur, who used the pen name Ka-Tsetnik 135633 (the meaning of Ka-Tsetnik in Yiddish and German was an inmate/prisoner). Ka-Tsetnik said:
“I was on Planet Auschwitz for about two years. The time there is not the same as it is here, on our planet. Every fraction of a second has different wheels of time. The inhabitants of that planet had no names. They had no parents and no children. They did not wear [clothes] the way they wear here. They were not born there and did not give birth... They did not breath, live or die according to the laws of this world. Their name was K-Tzetnik number…” - End of quote.
He collapsed after saying these words.
Most of the survivors did not talk for years. One of them was my mother, תבדל"א, a child in the War, who came to Israel and quickly understood that those who were not there will not understand. At that time, silence seemed to be the key for integration and building new life. Like many survivors, who did not forget anything, and from the depth of horror, they have chosen to live, to build families, to build our country and make it a safe home. They are the heroes, as you are Mr. Sobol.
Dear friends,
To this day, we struggle to understand how Nazi Germany and its collaborators were able to implement their brutal and barbaric ideology.
How they could industrialize death and human cruelty behind high walls or mere barbed wire, and while the smoke of the crematoria darkened the bright sky, people outside those walls continued their regular lives, most of them remaining indifferent, like bystanders.
We therefore also pay tribute today to the millions men and women who perished fighting against this evil. Soldiers of the Allied Forces and the Red Army; Civilians and officials fighting in the resistance. Each of them deserve our gratitude, for contributing to putting an end to the darkest pages of our History.
May the Memory of our brothers and sisters, all victims of Nazism, and those who fought against it, the Righteous among the Nations, be forever engraved in our hearts.