World Holocaust Forum

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US Vice President Mike Pence at the 5th World Holocaust Forum.
Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, director and organizer of the World Holocaust Forum

The World Holocaust Forum (also World Forum “Let My People Live!” ) Is a series of events with the aim of preserving the memory of the Holocaust . Five of these events have been held so far. The first took place in 2005 in Krakow (Poland). To organize and support the World Forum, a special foundation was established in the same year under the chairmanship of Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor , President of the European Jewish Congress and chairman of the Forum's Organizing Committee.

First World Holocaust Forum

The First World Forum, nicknamed Let My People Live! ( German  Let my people live! ) was held in Krakow (Poland) in 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp . The First Forum was attended by over 20 official delegations with their heads of state, including the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin , the President of Israel Moshe Katzav , the President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski and the Vice President of the United States of America Richard Cheney . The first World Forum received widespread media coverage.

Second World Holocaust Forum

The Second World Holocaust Forum Let My People Live! was held in Kiev in 2006 under the auspices of President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy . Over 1000 participants from 60 countries took part in the forum, including representatives of international political and public organizations such as the United Nations , the European Union , the Council of Europe , the World Jewish Congress , the European Jewish Congress , the American Jewish Congress , and the European Jewish Fund and many others.

The World Holocaust Forum issued a declaration calling for the memory of the tragic events of World War II to be preserved and for efforts to be made in the fight against xenophobia, anti-Semitism and international terrorism to be stepped up.

Third World Holocaust Forum

The Third World Holocaust Forum Let My People Live! took place in Krakow on January 27, 2010 and was dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The third World Holocaust Forum was dedicated to remembering the events of World War II, to create a link between the past and the future and to help prevent the tragedies of the past from being repeated. The President of the European Jewish Congress Moshe Kantor was the leader and organizer of the event.

The forum was the first in a long list of commemorative events planned for 2010 to mark the 65th anniversary of Victory in World War II. The forum was intended to attract the attention of the world community and to remind the public of the unprecedented joint struggle of the members of the allied coalition against fascism and the crucial role of the Soviet Union in the liberation of Europe.

A group of 100 members of the European Parliament, led by Jerzy Buzek , representatives of other European institutions and official delegations from around the world, took part in the forum . Ivan Martynushkin and Yakov Vinnichenko, both WWII veterans and liberators from Auschwitz-Birkenau, were among the guests of honor at the forum. Among others, Aleksander Kwaśniewski , former President of the Republic of Poland, chairman of the European Council for Tolerance and Reconciliation, Israel Meir Lau , chief rabbi of Tel Aviv and survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp Avner Shalev, chairman of the directorate of Yad Vashem, Ronald Lauder , president of World Jewish Congress

Barack Obama , President of the United States , and Nicolas Sarkozy sent messages of greeting to the event. In it they called on the international community to always remember the tragedies of the past and warned that memories must also flow into political action.

The main outcome of the forum was the announcement of the initiative to establish a new special school for education and research, a Pan-European University of Global Security and Tolerance . The main goal of the new organization will be to assist the international community in their struggle for global security in the face of the challenges posed by extremism. The university will focus on organizing intercultural education and teaching programs to harmonize the development of international cooperation and education.

Fourth World Holocaust Forum

On January 26th and 27th, 2015 the World Holocaust Forum hosted the fourth event “Let My People Live!” The forum took place in Prague and Terezín (Theresienstadt, Czech Republic) on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Several hundred high-profile guests, including heads of state, political leaders, MPs, diplomats, academics and public figures from many countries, one of the few surviving liberators of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Leonty Brandt, former concentration camp inmate and Holocaust survivor, attended the Event.

The two-day event consisted of two main parts: the forum of world civil society at Prague Castle and the commemoration in Theresienstadt, which was about remembering the past and reflecting on the present in a time when anti-Semitism and intolerance one always play a bigger role - the threat not only to the survival of the Jewish communities in Europe, but also to the security of Europe as a whole.

The forum, which was organized by the European Jewish Congress and the World Holocaust Forum Foundation with the European Parliament and its then President Martin Schulz , was attended by over 900 guests, including 30 official delegations and representatives of parliaments, European heads of state and international celebrities and experts and scholars who gathered at Prague Castle to participate in three roundtable discussions on anti-Semitism, neo-Nazism and religious radicalism.

The well-known American human rights activist Abraham Foxman , the historian and professor at Yale University Timothy David Snyder , the French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy , the chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Cemil Çiçek , the president of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Valeriu Zgonea and others outstanding personalities took part on the first day of the forum. Russia was represented by the Vice Chairman of the Federation Council Ilyas Umakhanov and the President of the World Forum for the Dialogue of Civilizations Vladimir Yakunin .

The opening speeches were given by the President of the European Jewish Congress Moshe Kantor, the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka , the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament Jan Hamáček and the President of the Czech Senate Milan Štěch .

On January 27, 2015, Czech President Miloš Zeman hosted the final session of the forum and the official ceremony in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, 98 musicians under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov , performed Isaac Schwartz's “Yellow Star Concert” , accompanied by a video about the history of the Holocaust. After a minute of silence, which included three other concentration camps, the guests were invited to take part in the commemoration in Theresienstadt, a concentration camp that often served as a transit station on the way to the extermination camps. The inmates of Theresienstadt included many musicians, composers, draftsmen and poets who maintained their art by publishing the magazine “Vedem”. World famous Cantor Joseph Malovany and Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley performed during the ceremony.

At the end of the fourth international Holocaust Forum, the participants adopted a declaration on combating anti-Semitism and hate crimes.

Fifth World Holocaust Forum

Participant in the 5th World Holocaust Forum
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the central commemoration event for the 5th World Holocaust Forum.

On January 23, 2020 , the Fifth World Holocaust Forum with the title “Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Anti-Semitism” took place in Jerusalem (Israel). 49 high-level delegations attended the forum. The organizer and initiator of the forum was again the President of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation and President of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor, in collaboration with Yad Vashem and under the patronage of the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin .

In addition to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today's heads of state of the then Allied Powers, Russian President Vladimir Putin , the Vice President of the USA, Mike Pence , French President Emmanuel Macron and the British heir to the throne Prince Charles as well as spoke at the opening event first German head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier .

Among the personalities who attended the event were the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella , the President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen , the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America Nancy Pelosi , the Presidents of Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, Cyprus and the Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, the kings of Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, and as the representative of the Holy See, Cardinal Deacon Kurt Koch .

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was the first German head of state to speak in Yad Vashem at the central commemorative event for the 5th World Holocaust Forum. He began his speech in Hebrew with the blessing Shehechejanu : Praise be to the Lord [...] that he lets me be here today. The Federal President confessed to the German guilt for the Holocaust and assured the protection of Jewish life: We fight anti-Semitism! We defy the poison of nationalism! We protect Jewish life! We stand on the side of Israel! I renew this promise here in Yad Vashem in front of the world .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and members of his official delegation have given up their seats for the ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to make room for Shoah survivors who would have liked to attend, but for whom there were originally no seats . This enabled the men and women to be there live.

The Polish President Andrzej Duda refused to attend the event despite being invited. The main reason was that he did not get the opportunity to also speak a greeting. Despite several diplomatic interventions, he did not get a positive reaction from the organizers to his request. The Russian President Vladimir Putin had been given the right to speak, who had criticized Poland in the weeks before with regard to their classification of the Second World War. When the diplomatic efforts were unsuccessful, he added the argument that the event was not taking place in Poland. President Gitanas Nausėda from Lithuania supported President Duda's position and also withdrew his participation.

Two weeks after the memorial ceremony, the organizers apologized for “a number of inaccuracies” as certain historical facts were “one-sided and incomplete” in the short films that were shown during the event. The Hitler-Stalin Pact was not discussed and maps were shown that did not show the actual borders between Poland and its neighbors and that incorrectly marked concentration camps as extermination camps.

criticism

The director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum , the historian Piotr Cywiński , has sharply criticized the organizers of the World Holocaust Forum. The organizers have been trying for years to replace the memorial service on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Auschwitz, with their event. The actions of the organizers are "provocative and immature". Cywiński told the fifth World Holocaust Forum that the main event commemorating the liberation of the concentration camp 75 years ago should take place in Poland, not Israel. The organizers replied that the World Holocaust Forum would therefore not take place on January 27th, that it was dedicated to the entire Holocaust and the defense against increasing anti-Semitism around the world and not just the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army . Numerous events on these topics would take place worldwide. Each of these events contribute to the goals.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Declaration of the First World Forum “Let My People Live!”, Krakow, January 27, 2005
  2. ↑ Craig S. Smith: World Leaders Gather for Auschwitz Ceremony . January 27, 2005.
  3. ↑ Ukraine remembers Jewish massacre . September 26, 2006.
  4. ^ Declaration of the Second "Let My People Live!" World Forum, Kiev, September 27, 2006
  5. ^ EU parliament president commemorates Holocaust, The Parliament.com, January 28, 2010 .
  6. ^ Anti-Semitism in Poland shows need for Holocaust education, Haaretz, January 28, 2010 .
  7. ↑ Survivors mark liberation of Auschwitz ( en-US ) Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  8. ^ Sarkozy: Auschwitz, symbol of evil, not forgotten ( en ) January 27, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  9. ↑ Iran has same plan as Hitler, says Auschwitz survivor, The Times, January 28, 2010
  10. ^ The last survivors return to Auschwitz, The Jewish Chronicle, January 28, 2010
  11. ↑ 70 years later: Universal lessons for our time .
  12. ^ Rob Cameron: Anti-Semitism exposes legal gaps in Europe (en-GB) . In: BBC News , January 28, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2020. 
  13. ↑ European parliaments' speakers sign declaration against anti-Semitism ( en-US ) January 27, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  14. ^ World Holocaust Forum events set to start with leaders of 49 countries .
  15. ↑ a b Leaders from the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany to Address the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem ( en-US ) January 15, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ Speech by Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Yad Vashem , Der Bundespräsident, January 23, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  17. ↑ Messages - Geste , Jüdische Zeitung, January 23, 2020. Accessed January 24, 2020.
  18. ↑ Poland's President does not go to commemorate the Shoah in Yad Vashem , Jüdische Allgemeine, January 7, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2020
  19. ^ A b David M. Halbfinger: Live Updates: World Leaders Gather in Israel, 75 Years After Holocaust (en-US) . In: The New York Times , January 22, 2020. 
  20. ↑ Poland's Duda to forego Holocaust memorial event in Israel. In: DW.com (Deutsche Welle). January 7, 2020, accessed on January 22, 2020 .
  21. ↑ a b c Raphael Ahren: "Director of Auschwitz Museum slams holding of World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem" Times of Israel from January 22, 2020
  22. ↑ Unusual apology , Jüdische Allgemeine, February 4, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  23. ↑ Pathethical and immature , Jüdische Allgemeine, January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2020.