究竟是什麼原因，造成這個人類歷史上死傷最慘烈的戰爭呢？有兩個意識型態的原因：第一，要控制歐洲，藉此控制全世界，創造以日耳曼民族的雅利安人為首的種族階級。納粹意識型態的第二要點，就是反猶太主義。納粹認為猶太人是控制德國敵人的撒旦。一方面，希特勒則是新的救世主，能帶領世界。另一方面，邪惡猶太人不讓納粹的烏托邦在全球遍地開花。

納粹的意識型態是德國求戰的動力。當然還有其他考量，但都不那麼重要。可以這麼說，二次世界大戰造成上千萬人死亡，以及摧毀國家、文化，掠奪大人、小孩的性命，部分可歸因於對於猶太人的仇恨。如果你無法堅定抵抗反猶太的勢力，那你應要捫心自問：你還沒有學到教訓嗎？你難道不知道反猶太是致命的毒藥，會害人害己嗎？

奧斯維辛成為邪惡的象徵。對猶太人而言，這是全世界最大的墳場，卻沒有墓碑。在集中營喪失的，不僅僅是人命，更是終結了猶太文化，但猶太文明是一種傳統，也是代文化的基礎。

猶太人的種族滅絕太屠殺有兩大面向。首先，這是猶太人獨有的國家悲劇，有三分之一的人口死亡。其二則是種族滅絕對全世界的影響。事實上，可說是一體兩面，猶太人是種族滅絕的受害者，但影響卻遍及全球。沒有人知道誰會是下一個猶太人。

在東亞，很幸運的，不論在時間和空間上，大屠殺不像戰爭，跟東亞的人民距離很遙遠。但是在台灣，我必須要提幾個重點：首先，台灣是抵抗邪惡軸心國勢力的一員，中華民國在1941年12月9日加入同盟國。台北本身也成為了空襲的目的地。

在此我也一定要提一位中華民國的外交官，他傾一人之力，在最艱困的時刻，拯救了3千多名猶太人。何鳳山當時是駐奧地利維也納的總領事，當時納粹治理維也納，因為人道關懷，他向猶太人發出簽證，讓他們前往上海。即便有上級的壓力，他還是擇善固執。他也瞭解此一舉動，會讓自己的事業、甚是他個人與家人的生命陷入危險。每個向他申請簽證的猶太人，都能獲准離開奧地利，重獲新生。

在納粹國有化領事館後，何總領事自己掏腰包租了一個辦公室，繼續核發簽證，直到1940年5月被召喚回國後才停止。何鳳山拯救了多少條人命，已經不得而知，但光是在他任職的前6個月，他就發出了6千份簽證，可以想像他一共拯救了幾千名猶太人。

2001年，在何大使逝世4年後，以色列大屠殺紀念館頒發了「國際義人獎」給何大使，猶太人和以色列人，永遠感謝總統。

Event for International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Taipei

Mr. Asher Yarden’s Speech Transcript

On January 27, 1945 the Red Army has liberated the Auschwitz concentration and death camp. But this did not put an end to the bloodshed of World War II, which took the lives of some 35 million people, most of them civilians. The war continued for another 3 months.

10 days before Auschwitz was released, 58,000 prisoners were marched out of the camp, because the Nazis did not want them to fall alive to the liberating forces. Instead, they had to march in what had later been known as "death marches". Half of them died on the road. They left behind them ashes and remains of over 1.2 million human beings, 1 million and a hundred thousand Jews, more than half of them children. In this death camp - the largest death camp operated by the Nazis, for the longest period, in which the industrialization of the mass murder has reached a peak.

What was the cause of this war - the most deadly in human history to date? The war was the result of two ideological reasons: one, to gain control over Europe, and through it, the entire world, and in doing so, to create a global racist hierarchy within which the Nordic peoples of the Arian race will dominate the rest. The second element of the Nazi ideology was Antisemitism. The Nazis saw in the Jews the Satan that dominated all of Germany's enemies. On the one edge was Hitler, the new savior, who leads the world, and on the opposite there were the Satanic Jews, trying to prevent in any possible way the implementation of of the Nazi utopia all across the world.

The Nazi ideology was indeed the driving force behind the German yearning for war. There were also pragmatic considerations, but they were secondary. It wouldn't be exaggerated to say that World War II, the death of tens of millions of humans, the destruction of countries and their cultures and the torture and murder of children and adults alike have been caused in part because of the hatred towards the Jews. All those who hesitate today to take action against Antisemitic incitement anywhere it appears should ask these questions: Have you not learned the lesson? Don't you realize that Antisemitism is a lethal poison, which kills humans, including hose who spread it?

Auschwitz has rightfully become the symbol of evil. For the Jewish people, this is the largest cemetery in the world - a cemetery without graves. But not only humans have been lost in the in the death camps; there was a real effort to exterminate the Jewish culture - a civilization and a tradition which is one of the foundations of the modern culture.

There are two aspects of the Jewish Genocide - the Holocaust. One is the uniqueness of the Jewish nation's tragedy, which lost a third of its people. The second is the universal implications of this Genocide. As a matter of fact, these are both sides of the same coin. The Jews were the specific victims of the Genocide, but the significance is universal. No one can know who will the Jews be next time ...

Here in East Asia, luckily enough, the Holocaust, unlike the war, is for many a remote chapter - geographically and chronologically. Yet, here in Taiwan I think it is worth mentioning several facts in this regard: first, that Taiwan was part of the struggle against evil, as it was personified by the Axis powers, when it joined the Allied forces on December 9, 1941. Taipei itself was the target of air raids.

But the fact that is most to be mentioned is the personal contribution of a Taiwanese diplomat, who in his own actions saved the lives of more than 3,000 Jews during that dark period. Ho Feng-Shan, who served as consul general of China in Vienna, Austria. Ho Feng-Shan had started to issue visas for Shanghai to Jews in Nazi ruled Vienna, for pure humanitarian causes. He did that despite direct orders from his superiors not to do so. He did that knowing that he was putting his career, but more importantly, his life, as well as those of his family members at risk. He did that and granted a visa to every Jew who applied  These visas enabled Jews to leave Austria and survive.

After the Nazis nationalized the consulate building, which was owned by a Jew, Consul General Ho rented another office with his own private money, and continued issuing the visas from there. Ho Feng-Shan did not stop until he was called back in May 1940. The exact number of Jews saved by Ho Feng-Shan is not clear; what is known, though, is that in the first six months of his role, he issued 2,000 visas, so it is fair to estimate the number of Jews he saved in the thousands.

In the year 2001, four years after he passed away, Ho Feng-Shan was recognized by Yad Vashem - Israel's official organization for the commemoration of the Holocaust victims - as a "Righteous Among The Nations". The Jewish people, as well as the Israelis, are indeed grateful to President .​