On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday (local time) asserted that antisemitism must be thwarted, "be it open or veiled, and against denial or diminishing of the Holocaust".
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a memorial day on January 27, every year that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945.
In a video address at the first commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust (translated from German), Merkel said that she was "deeply ashamed of the Shoah", betrayal of civilised values perpetrated under the National Socialist regime.
The event was orgsed jointly by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the UN and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Orgsation (UNESCO).
"76 years ago, on January 27, 1945, the concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. What happened there and in many other places where atrocities were committed during the National Socialist period is and remains beyond belief. I am deeply ashamed of the Shoah, of that betrayal of civilised values perpetrated under the National Socialist regime," Merkel said.
"We must stand with utmost determination against Antisemitism -- be it open or veiled, and against denial or diminishing of the Holocaust. We are guided by this conviction also during the German presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance... We honour the victims of the Holocaust by remembering them and by learning from their plight. That is our everlasting responsibility -- for today's and future generations," she added
The German chancellor said that it is Germany's "everlasting responsibility" to remember "these events" and to commemorate the victims: the European Jews, the Sinti and Roma, the political prisoners and members of the intelligentsia in Poland, and many more
"We must never forget these people and their fates. My special thanks go to the survivours who muster the strength to tell the story of their lives. Their first-hand accounts show us how vulnerable human dignity is and how easily the values that underpin peaceful coexistance can be violated," she said.
The German chancellor called for "constant vigilance" to ensure that "we cede no ground to antisemitism and racism."
( With inputs from ANI )
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