- Title: ARGENTINA: Argentina marks Holocaust Remembrance Day
- Date: 28th January 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS OF DAIA CHORUS SINGING
- Embargoed: 12th February 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina, Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Conflict,History
- Reuters ID: LVA6NJFXIDKVAYEV8ZRIFE8AHYBY
- Story Text: Members of Argentina's Jewish community, including holocaust survivors, gathered in Buenos Aires to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday (January 27) with a special event titled, "Don't forget."
The event at Argentina's foreign ministry was also attended by Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and Education Minister Alberto Sileoni who emphasized the importance of remembering the past.
Holocaust survivors, other members of the Argentine-Jewish community and government officials lit candles in remembrance victims of the holocaust during the ceremony which was part of the international remembrance day which United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon officially dedicated, this year, to children killed in the Holocaust.
The president of the Delegation of Argentine-Israeli Associations, Aldo Donzis, thanked the survivors for the stories they share and the scars they carry.
"The meaningful presence of our dear survivors at this commemorative event, who have their skin tattooed with the mark of infamy and their hearts severely wounded by a wrongful past, constitutes the living testament of the darkest days in the history of humanity. We thank you, for working tirelessly for remembering and educating [others] about the past, but also for making us aware of present threats. The Jewish people honour memory in what is considered a sacred duty. To forget the victims of Nazi anti-Semitic hate would be a triumph for those who commit genocide, for their accomplices and those who deny the Shoa [holocaust] today," Donzis said.
A moment of silence was observed in memory of those lost.
"The importance of testimony is very clear to Argentines because as Elie Wiesel [Jewish-American writer, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor] said, it could happen again. When the seed of hate grows in the heart of those who believe themselves to be omnipresent the situation in which a group of deadly men think the solution to their problems is in the extermination of other human beings can repeat itself," Timerman said.
In 2005, the United Nations declared January 27 as a day to remember the Holocaust in honour of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945. Approximately six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, including 1.5 million children. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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