This past week the EJA had the great privilege of meeting with Ms. Imma Tor Faus, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Andorra, alongside our partners from the Jewish community of Andorra. It was a fruitful meeting discussing best practices to combat antisemitism. We thank the Andorran Government for their support and commitment in the fight against antisemitism.
In a statement this evening, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the chairman of the European Jewish Association that organises regular conferences and delegations to Auschwitz for high ranking politicians, diplomats and figures such as Elon Musk, responded to former Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki’s efforts to deny polish involvement in the Holocaust:
“Whilst we honour and hold dear to our hearts the memory of the many heroic Poles who saved Jews in the Holocaust, we will never forget that Poland is the largest cemetery in the world for Jews who were tortured, murdered and burned alive with the support of too many Poles, many of whom continued to exploit the victims and their descendants after the Holocaust. Indeed some are still continuing to this day to falsify history.
It is for these reasons that the former Polish prime minister comments are not only wrong, but are also extremely dangerous.
Trying to distort and wash away any Polish involvement in the Holocaust is a cynical attempt to distort its full picture. It insults its victims, and undermines its legacy. From jedwabne to Kielce, the evidence is clear. Mr Moriawecki’s comments are therefore Orwellian, sinister and cannot stand unchallenged. The holocaust will never be rewritten. I say to the former Prime Minister: You cannot control the past. You must live with it, and learn from it. Go and learn.”
The Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/auschwitz-survivor-decries-rise-of-antisemitism-far-right-in-germany/
BERLIN — A Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz death camp told Germany’s parliament Wednesday that she is appalled by the rising strength of the far right in the country and increasing antisemitism in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
Eva Szepesi, 91, who was born in Hungary and liberated from Auschwitz at age 12 in January 1945, spoke at the parliament’s annual memorial event for victims of the Holocaust. She shared her memories of Nazi persecution and addressed concerns about the current situation in Germany.
“I would like not just for murdered Jews to be remembered on memorial days but also for living ones to be remembered in daily life. They need protection now,” Szepesi told lawmakers.
Germany saw a significant increase in anti-Jewish incidents following the attack on Israel. Szepesi said some of her readings at schools were called off for security reasons shortly after October 7 and her most recent such events took place under police protection.
“The Shoah (Holocaust) did not begin with Auschwitz. It began with words, it began with society staying silent and looking away,” she said. “It pains me when schoolchildren are again afraid of going to school just because they are Jews; it pains me when my great-grandchildren still have to be protected by police officers with machine guns just because they are Jews.”
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Szepesi also decried the strengthening of the far right in Germany, where recent national polls showed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in second place with support of around 20%. A recent news report said some party members attended a recent meeting where right-wing extremists discussed deporting millions of immigrants and people with immigrant roots, including some with German citizenship.
The railway tracks where hundred thousands of people arrived to be directed to the gas chambers inside the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau, December 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)
“It appalls me that right-wing extremist parties are again being voted for,” Szepesi said. “They must not become so strong that our democracy is endangered.”
Hundreds of thousands of German citizens attended protests against the far right this month.
“It’s great that so many people have taken to the streets in recent weeks to demonstrate against right-wing extremists,” Szepesi told parliament. “But I would like these demonstrators also to object loudly among acquaintances and at the workplace when inhuman and antisemitic comments are made.”
Purim is approaching and we are happy to announce our Mishloach Manot handout to the community has begun.
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Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has inaugurated an alley bearing the name of Mireille Knoll, a 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who was brutally murdered in her apartment in a antisemitic attack.
The alley is located on the Boulevard de Ménilmontant, in the 11th arrondissement of the French capital.
Knoll was brutally murdered in her apartment in a antisemitic attack on March 23, 2018. Firefighters who arrived at Knoll’s building later that night to answer an emergency call discovered her partially-burned body with 11 stab wounds.
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