Skopje, Macedonia, March 11, 2013

Ambassador Amrani's Speech on the occasion of the 70th Commemoration Ceremony, Macedonian Jewish Community transportation to Treblinka Death Camp.

"There are few moments in human life when time, place and history come together and remind us of past events, a moment in history which should never have happened, a moment which should never be forgotten, a moment which furthered the tragedy of humanity, the failure of human spirit and European Culture and Civilization in those terrible days and years of the 20th Century.

It was here, same place, same day, at the dawn of morning, 06:00 AM, 70 years ago when the Jewish People of this land and its' cities, a community whose history and roots in this land go back to the 3rd Century A.D., was gathered under those very same skies to be sent to their end in Treblinka concentration camp. 7,144 Jews of this land and many more of neighboring Greece and Serbia were gathered as a toll, a human levy to the totalitarian tyrant, Nazi Germany and its collaborators. No one came to their defense, no one came to their rescue and in those days, Jewish people were left to their tragedy.

The land of this Continent, the land of Europe has known many tragedies, wars and disasters throughout history but it had never seen an organized effort, an orchestrated strategy to destroy, eliminate and execute an entire people. Nothing in Human History is equal, nothing can be compared to the Holocaust as we are committed and determined to remember every loss, and each people's suffering. Remembering the events of the Holocaust, keeping alive the memory of the demise and destruction of Jewish Communities all over Europe is our moral obligation. We should not forget  the moral, historic and political bankruptcy of those very countries which failed to stand up to human values, of those very nations of rich culture and contribution to our civilization and humanity who chose to cooperate with the Nazis, Fascists and their many collaborators just for political expediency and benefit. Just few, the outnumbered, righteous of Sodom and Gomorrah, including Macedonian Righteous among the Nations listened to the cry and extend a hand of help and shelter.

Human nature tends to forget and repress memories let alone colossal collective nightmare. As we stand here watching the horizon no evil thought can come to mind, we ask ourselves how it could have happened. Some would even dare and claim that it couldn’t have happened, that the numbers are fabricated. But we know it did happen, we don’t see graves because people didn’t enjoy the privilege of being buried, and they were eliminated not to leave a sign or a mark of their life and existence. We will never forget, we will always remember, we know people had lived here, built families and life and on one day, one morning for no acceptable reason it all came to an end and a trembling dusky vacuum which can never be filled again.

The transport of Macedonian Jewish Community, three train loads, shipments, was neither the start nor the end of the Nazi Regime Final Solution policy. Race laws preceded, in Germany and many other countries including neighboring countries where Nazi collaborators ruled, Jews were denied their citizenship and legal protection just for being Jews, not belonging to the race of choice. German Jews, French Jews, Polish Jews, Macedonian Jews ceased to be citizens, they were no longer patriots of their countries just Jews! The Nazis and their accomplices decided to deny their identity. The trains went on their final journey to the camps miles away where within days an end came to life. Even on the long journey no one came to the rescue.

70 years later we remember and we will not hesitate to remind the world of what had happened. There are still leaders and countries who take pride in claiming the Holocaust had never happened. There are esteemed leaders of respected countries who claim that Zionism, the national aspiration of the Jewish People, is a crime against Humanity and the world keeps quiet. There are those who try to rewrite History, to explain it in different words and different terms trying to present the unimaginable in logic terms but there is no way to cover the bare facts, the blinded hate to Jews in Europe throughout centuries, the prejudice and fear, the persecutions and then the Nazi evilness and obsession with the murder and annihilation of the Jewish People. 

The 7,144 Macedonian Jews were each and every one a whole world; the six millions lost in Europe were six million worlds, and beyond, lost forever. We remember them and we will never allow ourselves to forget. As we build life for the Jewish people in our homeland Israel, as we hope to see the continuity of Jewish life in Macedonia our hearts and mind are not for hate or revenge but for cooperation and friendship to ensure that such a disaster never happens again to no one, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion or gender. In building a better world, History must be learnt and remembered not denied, forgotten or worse rewritten".