'Indifference kills': Zelenskyy leads global tributes on Holocaust Memorial Day

Arabnews24.ca:Friday 27 January 2023 10:03 AM: Cities across the world have marked International Holocaust Memorial Day, with Ukraine's president warning that "indifference kills" in his tribute to victims.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy laid candles at the Holocaust memorial at Babyn Yar, Kyiv.

The president released a message to mark the day, saying: "Today, as always, Ukraine honours the memory of millions of Holocaust victims.

"We know and remember that indifference kills along with hatred. Indifference and hatred are always capable of creating evil together only," he said.

"That is why it is so important that everyone who values ​​life should show determination when it comes to saving those whom hatred seeks to destroy."

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The Ukrainian leader added: "Today we remember the Righteous Among the Nations. Different people in different countries who were equally determined to save lives. Today we remember the determination of the global coalition that stopped Nazism.

"And today we repeat it even more strongly than before: never again to hatred; never again to indifference.

"The more nations of the world overcome indifference, the less space there will be in the world for hatred. Eternal memory to all victims of the Holocaust!"

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Antisemitism 'more prevalent than it has been'

In Israel, a Holocaust survivor, 92, became emotional during a performance of I Have Survived by a choir of Holocaust survivors.

She was attending a ceremony hosted by the Yad Ezer Lechaver Association to mark the day in Haifa, Israel.

Holocaust Survivor Fany Zelikovitz, 92, who was born in Poland reacts as she takes part in the performance of the original song
Image: Fany Zelikovitz, 92, reacts as she takes part in a performance by a choir of Holocaust survivors

While in London, another 92-year-old - Vera Schaufeld - whose parents were murdered in a concentration camp, raised concerns about whether young people are learning enough about the atrocities of the past.

She said: "Antisemitism is more prevalent than it has been in the past because I think young people are no longer learning about the Holocaust as much as they did."

Ms Schaufeld, who was born in Prague in 1930 but came to England via the Kindertransport in 1938, added: "Jewish people should be seen just as much as individuals, and not as a whole group, but understood that they have their own views and their own lives in the same way that every other minority has to be respected.

"And it has to be understood that their experiences and their lives are relevant to them and their families."

Holocaust survivor Vera Schaufeld at her home in north London, ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day. Vera was born in Prague in 1930 and transported via the Kindertransport to the UK in 1939 where she lived with a family in Bury St Edmunds. Her father was the head of the Jewish community in the small town she grew up in and none of her family who remained in central Europe survived the war. Vera went on to train as a teacher.
Image: Holocaust survivor Vera Schaufeld at her home in north London

In Moscow, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and head of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Alexander Boroda, laid flowers at the monument to resistance heroes at Nazi concentration camps.

Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and head of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia Alexander Boroda lay flowers at the monument to resistance heroes at Nazi concentration camps and ghettoes during a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre in Moscow, Russia, January 27, 2023.
Image: Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, and head of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Alexander Boroda, lay flowers at a monument in Moscow

In Oswiecim, Poland, survivors Eva Umlauf and Zdzislawa Wlodarczyk took part in a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

More than a million people - including Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and Roma - were killed in the camp before it was liberated by Soviet troops on 27 January, 1945.

Holocaust survivor Eva Umlauf speaks during a ceremony of the 78th anniversary of liberation of Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Oswiecim, Poland January 27, 2023.   Pic: Jakub Porzycki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS
Image: Holocaust survivor Eva Umlauf
Holocaust survivor Zdzislawa Wlodarczyk takes part in the 78th anniversary of liberation of Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Oswiecim, Poland January 27, 2023. Pic : Jakub Porzycki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Image: Survivor Zdzislawa Wlodarczyk takes part in the 78th anniversary of liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp

While in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said "the suffering of six million innocently murdered Jews remains unforgotten - as does the suffering of the survivors."

"We recall our historic responsibility on Holocaust Memorial Day so that our Never Again endures in future," he wrote on Twitter.

The German parliament was holding a memorial event focused this year on those who were persecuted for their sexual orientation. Thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people were incarcerated and killed by the Nazis.

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