'We Must Heed the Urgency to Listen to and Care for the Last Living Survivors'

Kiev Jew Killings in Ivangorod, 1942 (Click on photo to enlarge)

Statement by the President on Holocaust Remembrance Day

"I join people here at home, in Israel, and around the world in commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day and in honoring the memory of all those who suffered, died and lost loved ones in one of the most barbaric acts in human history.

More than six decades after the Holocaust, and at a time when Holocaust denial and genocidal ideologies persist, our grief and our outrage over the Nazis’ murder of six million Jews and so many others have not diminished.

This year marks both the 65th anniversary of the verdicts at the first Nuremberg trial, a defining moment in international justice, and the 50th anniversary of Adolf Eichmann’s trial, where the world heard firsthand testimonies from those who had suffered the horrors of the Holocaust.

From this tragedy we see the cost of allowing hatred go unanswered in the world, but from this justice we also see the power of holding the perpetrators of genocide accountable. Remembering these events only reinforces our solemn commitment to confront those who tell lies about our history and to stop the spread of hate in our own time.

We must heed the urgency to listen to and care for the last living survivors, camp liberators and the witnesses to the Shoah. And we must meet our sacred responsibility to honor all those who perished by recalling their courage and dignity in the face of unspeakable atrocities, by insisting that the world never forget them, and by always standing up against intolerance and injustice."

Photo source: Genocide: The Jews in Europe 1939-45, Ballantine

Author: Unknown
Permission: Public Domain