Parliament organises a special plenary meeting in Brussels on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, 77 years after the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp was liberated on 27 January 1945. EP President Roberta Metsola opens the event. She is accompanied by Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer.

plenary session

ceremony

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

Holocaust remembrance (T)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Arrivals and ambiance in the Chamber prior to the Formal Sitting and introductory speech by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/9026118/1643287422393_I217049Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

Arrival of Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Margot FRIEDL&Auml;NDER, German Holocaust survivor, writer

Roberta METSOLA, EP President, opening the plenary session

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, -

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Members, dear Miss Margot Friedlander, dear colleagues, the horrors that took place in Auschwitz are unspeakable, but we must speak. This is a day of remembrance. Today, the twenty seventh of January, marks our collective responsibility to remember the unspeakable atrocities committed towards all the victims of the Holocaust.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Six million Jewish people, the Romani people, the LGBTQ communities and many others that were stripped of their dignity because of their ethnicity, identity, race behaviours or because of their political or religious beliefs. The Nazi regime callously murdered 17 million men, women and children and inflicted unimaginable suffering and pain on millions more, while others silence stood complicit.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, We remember those that perished and those that survived. Survivors burdened with unimaginable hardship. Survivors such as Zilly Schmidt and Zoni Weisz, whom we are fortunate to have present with us online today. We remember those that, to paraphrase the title of Margot Friedlander book, had to try to make a life in a world that tried to completely annihilate them and their families, how low humanity sank.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, On Holocaust remembrance Day, we remember crimes committed against humanity in the past, but we also remember the importance to speak up in the present united in diversity. We speak up against Holocaust deniers, against conspiracy myths, against disinformation and against violence of every kind that target and single out members of our communities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Because, despite decades of effort, we have not yet done enough to combat discrimination in recent years across Europe, anti-Semitic attacks are increasing and our children are no exception to this violence, only to days ago, a 12 year old boy from Livorno in Tuscany was insulted, kicked and spat on simply because he is Jewish.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Fear still exists because anti-Semitism still exists, and because the fundamental right to be free from discrimination irrespective of gender, race, ethnic origin or sexual orientation is threatened daily. We cannot allow complacency. We cannot allow impunity for acts of hatred, that instil fear in members of our communities. Holocaust survivor and Nobel PRISE winner Elie Wiesel said: I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation, we must always take sides. And the European Parliament will always take aside the side of respect, the side of human dignity, the side of equality.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, The European Parliament will never be silent, and today we lit up the European Parliament in honour of all the victims of the Holocaust. We must consciously act every day and in whatever we do to ensure that our communities are not marginalised by exclusion, hatred and indifference. And we must learn and we must educate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, The 2005 United Nations resolution that designated the 27 January as the international commemoration Day in memory of Holocaust victims also emphasises the importance of educating about Holocaust history so that the darkest chapter of European history never, ever repeats itself. The United Nations resolution calls for actively preserving all Holocaust sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labour camps and prisons. And these sites, as we've seen, offer history lessons in themselves.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Sites such as the Alsace-Moselle Memorial and Schirmek, just a few kilometres away from the European Parliament's official seat in Strasbourg, where, through knowledge and education, current and future generations can learn about the hunger first disease, violence and death that were part of the everyday life of Holocaust victims. And they can never learn to ever forget.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Today, we mark seventy-seven years since the liberation of the Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration Camp, a liberation from evil that signalled that there was still hope. The European project was built as a political manifestation of "never again", a response to the horrors of the Third Reich with the ambition to integrate democratic countries together in the hope for a better future. It stemmed from the bold idea that strength could be extracted from tragedy, that from the ashes of our common history, we could forge a common destiny, a destiny where the values of peace, fairness, openness and cooperation could be instilled in us all. Because this is our Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, And today it is truly an honour for this European Parliament. To welcome Holocaust survivor Marguerite Friedlander. Your lifelong commitment to combat discrimination through initiatives like the Margaret Friedlander Award that supports young people in standing up against modern day forms of anti-Semitism, racism and exclusion. And your lifelong dedication in sharing the message of your life, is an inspiration to all. And for this, we thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Forty years ago, Simone Weil had held the same role that I hold today. The first president of a democratically elected European Parliament was herself a former inmate of Auschwitz Birkenau. And so this responsibility that we must carry as a house of democracy is not only institutional, but also deeply personal. And we will honour the legacy of the Holocaust victims by never forgetting, by never being complacent and by always, always speaking up.