International Day of Commemoration in memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Please stand with me as we observe a minute of silence in honour of the victims of the Holocaust.


Thank you.

Ambassador Leshno-Yaar,
Ambassador Martinelli,
Ambassador Henczel,
Ambassador Lakatos,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

We take this moment of silence to honour the memory of the estimated six million Jews and countless others killed in Nazi death camps. The tragedy of the Holocaust should be made to resonate as loudly today as it did following World War Two.

This month we mark the liberation, sixty-seven years ago, of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where over one million people, mostly Jews, perished. The International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust remains a crucial day when we remember, we mourn, we learn, and we recommit to counter such evil in the future.

We honour the memory of those murdered by educating our children about the horrors of the Holocaust. The Holocaust robbed one and a half million Jewish children of their lives and their futures, and deprived us all of their talents, creativity and contributions to our common good. As we take time today to remember the children of the Holocaust, we recommit to educating future generations. We would be naive to think that genocide is no longer a possibility in today’s world. But we would be foolish to believe that we cannot take steps to avert hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.

Le drame qui a frappé le peuple juif, mais également d’autres peuples, a mis en exergue l’intolérance et la cruauté de l’Homme. Mais dans ce chapitre noir de l’histoire mondiale, des héros ont également vu le jour et ont, grâce à leur courage, sauvé des milliers de vies. Aujourd’hui, il est de notre devoir de leur rendre hommage et j’aimerais vous parler de l’un d’entres eux, Carl Lutz, diplomate suisse en poste à Budapest qui s’éleva contre la barbarie et sauva ainsi plus de 62,000 juifs. Son parcours force l’admiration et je suis fier de pouvoir commémorer cette journée aux côtés de sa fille, Agnes Hirschi. Que les actes de Carl Lutz soient source d’inspiration pour nous tous.

Nous ne pourrons jamais réparer les préjudices de l'Holocauste, ni rendre justice à ses millions de victimes, mais nous pouvons - et devons - veiller à ce qu’à travers le souvenir de leurs souffrances, les atrocités du passé ne se reproduisent jamais.

Thank you very much.