In 2005, sixty years after the defeat of Nazi regime, the General Assembly of the UN adopted the resolution that declares the 27th of January as the annual International Day of Commemoration of the Holocaust. Since that important day, an increasing number of countries around the world have marked that event with a series of ceremonies and activities whose goal is not only to remember Holocaust victims but to fight to prevent future acts of genocide and any manifestation of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence, based on ethnic origin or religious belief. Special importance is being attached in the resolution to educational programs for future generations, rejection of any denial of the Holocaust and encouragement to governments to preserve sites that served as Nazi death camps and concentration camps. In 2016, ninety countries marked that day, including Serbia.The election of the 27th of January is not arbitrary. That day, the Death Camp Auschwitz has been liberated by the Red Army. Auschwitz has become the symbol and synonym of the horrors and atrocities of the Nazi regime. In this camp alone 1.200.000 people were murdered, more than 90% of them were Jews. The name Auschwitz represents the uniqueness of the Holocaust not only by the dimension of the systematic murder or the brutality and cruelty of the death methods, invented by the Nazis and their collaborators in occupied Europe, that ended with the murder of 6,000,000 Jews. This uniqueness is based on the ideology of racism and hatred behind it. All Jews, babies, children, adults or elderlies had no escape from death. The racial laws of the Nazi regime did not exclude anyone. You were sentenced to death because you carried your Judaism in your genetics and not according to your religious belief or national identity.
More than seventy years after the Holocaust, and in spite of the efforts to fight against all expressions of hatred and intolerance, as manifested in the UN resolution, it seems that antisemitism, hatred and intolerance have not only prevailed but also rose in the last years all over Europe. We welcome the government of the Republic of Serbia for taking part in the effort to fight against Anti-Semitism by keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive and by rendering justice to the victims and survivors through the adoption of the Restitution of Property of heirless Holocaust victims Law in February 2016. These steps that recognize the uniqueness of the Holocaust, should serve as a model to other European countries.
In July 2016 the Jewish people lost one of its spiritual leaders, Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel. Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, personified through his literary works, the victory of human spirit over the atrocities and the darkest of evils. He survived against all odds and has dedicated his life to the endeavor of fighting against all hatred and conveying a message of peace and tolerance, thus, becoming a force of light, truth and dignity.
This year as well, another Holocaust survivor, Annie Zorman, passed away in Tel Aviv at the age of 84. She survived against all odds as well and dedicated her life to raising her kids in the only Jewish state- Israel. This woman happens to be my mother. For her, as for thousands of survivors, the establishment of the state of Israel meant new beginning and new hopes. The survivors of the great tragedy succeeded to create a small but strong country, where many found their refuge, rebuilding their life and raising their children and grandchildren in a new homeland. It is important to understand that the creation of Israel is not the end of the Jewish history book but a new chapter in this book. Its independence as a Jewish and democratic state is challenged daily and should not be taken for granted. We, sons and daughters of the survivors of Holocaust and of the founders of the State of Israel feel committed to this mission of guaranteeing the existence of Israel while searching for peace with our neighbors.