We will always remember - Parliament honours the victims of the Holocaust  

 

We will always remember - Parliament honours the victims of the Holocaust  

Brussels  
 
 

Today, the European Parliament honoured the memory of the victims of the Holocaust during an Extraordinary Plenary Session in Brussels. In her address, President Metsola said that the European Parliament will always remember, will always speak up, and will always stand for dignity, hope and humanity.

       

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today, we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by Nazi Germany. Six million lives extinguished in a deliberate, organised, and state-sponsored genocide of the Jews of Europe.  

They were gassed, shot, starved. Murdered in ghettos, herded into cattle cars, buried in mass graves, killed in labour camps and in death camps designed solely to annihilate. Entire communities wiped out. Entire families slaughtered. Entire generations stolen. But even that horror did not wipe out the hope of the Jewish people. 

We remember, too, all those Roma and Sinti communities, and countless others slaughtered because of their faith, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or political opinions.

On Monday, I represented this House at Auschwitz, joining Holocaust survivors and world leaders to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the largest and deadliest of the Nazi extermination camps. Today, Auschwitz stands as a lesson for all of humanity.

In the words of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the question is not “Where was God?” but “Where was man? Where was humanity?”

The Holocaust did not happen overnight. The dehumanisation of the Jews of Europe began long before Auschwitz. It began with words. With propaganda that vilified Jews as “dangerous” and “alien”. It began with exclusion, humiliation, and the systematic stripping away of dignity. By the time the Final Solution was set in motion, the path had already been paved by indifference and hate.

That is why we can never forget, and why we must act. Ours is the last generation to have the privilege of knowing Holocaust survivors, and hearing their stories first-hand. Their voices, their courage, their memories are a bridge to a past that must never be forgotten. Because even after the horrors of the Holocaust, antisemitism did not disappear. It persisted.

Today, antisemitism is on the rise again - in Europe, across the world, and online. Myths, lies and conspiracy theories, centuries-old stereotypes dressed in new rhetoric, are spreading like wildfire on social media, in our schools and workplaces, in politics, and in the media.

The consequences are terrifyingly real. Anti-Jewish hate crimes in Europe have surged by 400%. Many are forced to hide their religion in public.

Elie Wiesel once warned us: “If we forget, we are guilty. If we forget them, they will be killed a second time. And this time, it will be our responsibility.” Memory is a duty. A responsibility to ensure that “never again” is not an empty promise.

On Monday, Auschwitz survivor Tova Friedman reminded us that “today we all have an obligation, not only to remember, but also to warn and to teach, that hatred only begets more hatred, killing more killing.”

This European Parliament will always remember. And we will always speak up - just as our first woman President Simone Veil, herself a survivor, taught us to do. Her legacy reminds us that neutrality helps only the oppressor, never the victim. This Parliament will always stand for dignity. For hope. For humanity.

In a moment, we will hear “Duo for violin and cello - Andante” by Pál Hermann, played on Pál’s original cello by the extraordinary Sam Lucas, with Sadie Fields on violin. And we will hear the story of Pál Hermann’s daughter, Corrie Hermann, who carries her father’s memory forward. May their music and their stories inspire us to do the same. To carry forward their memories. To speak out against hate. And to ensure that the words “never again” are not just spoken, but lived. Thank you.

You may find here the transcriptions of her speech per language: