Vice President Pence Delivers Remarks at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum to Mark the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, January 23, 2020.
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
Transcript
[Narrator] The world was in shock when the Holocaust, the most horrific act in the history of mankind, became known. How was such an atrocity humanly possible? “Never Again” became the call for unity among the nations. Antisemitism and racism will never be tolerated again!
But historical lessons were forgotten. And as memory faded, antisemitism grew and spread until it became a world-wide crisis.
Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, dedicated himself to the renewing the world’s commitment to Holocaust remembrance, and the fight against antisemitism. In 2005, Dr. Kantor, together with Yad Vashem, established the World Holocaust Forum to raise awareness and fight hate and racism.
Ladies and gentlemen, only three years passed after Kristallnacht, and Wannsee meeting took place, and the broken windows and burned synagogues were converted to death camps for the humanity. We know just now that the historical processes are accelerating.
[Crowd] You will not replace us! You will not replace us!
Today, only 60 years after the tragedy, we see again criminal tolerance to intolerance. We cannot stay aside. It’s time to act.
[Narrator] What are we doing to prevent this from happening again?
[Woman] More than a million and a half human beings had been murdered.
[Narrator] Since its founding, four Forums have been held, each aimed at engraving on the world’s consciousness our sacred duty to remember our past, and our collective responsibility to apply history’s lessons to the present and future. The Forums brought together world leaders and distinguished officials from 60 countries. By raising awareness globally, the issue of antisemitism and hate is now recognized as an urgent issue.
[Vladmir] It is our duty to declare with one voice to present and future generations that no one can and have the right to remain indifferent to antisemitism, nationalism, xenophobia and racial or religious intolerance.
It is sad and painful, when this memory, memory of Shoah, memory of the Second World War, hours or days, is being questioned.
We are reminded that antisemitism may begin with words but rarely stops with words, and the message of intolerance and hatred must be opposed before it turns into acts of horror.
We are strong, we have power, we have influence, and this obliges us with our power to stand up when the evil is appearing, to do it every day in our parliaments, in our daily life, on the streets, we must stand up and say, “Not with us!”
The perpetrators of that crime tried to annihilate the entire Jewish people. But they failed. Because 65 years ago today, when the gates flew open, you were still standing.
[Narrator] 75 years have passed since the concentration camps were liberated by the Allied Forces. Remembering our past is our duty but it’s not enough. It is our responsibility to secure the future generations of mankind.
Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies. Dear Holocaust survivors, distinguished guests, Shalom and welcome to the fifth World Holocaust Forum, remembering the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism. This historic gathering on the Mounds of Remembrance in Jerusalem is organized by the World Holocaust Forum Foundation, together with Yad Vashem, under the hospices of the President of the State of Israel, His Excellency Mr. Rueven Rivlin. The Shoah, Holocaust, was the systematic murder of six million Jewish children, women, and men by the Nazis and their collaborators. Motivated by their extreme racist antisemitic ideology, the Nazis and their collaborators sought to exterminate the entire Jewish people, to annihilate their culture and heritage, and to cruelly persecute other groups. It is particularly meaningful that this event is taking place at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem. We gather here to honor the survivors, remember the victims, and to gain insights from their stories that are significant and relevant for our present and our future. We also recall the remarkable legacy of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Jews fought heroically under impossible circumstances. They retained their dignity through extraordinary daily attempts to maintain family and communal ties, and observe sacred traditions. It is my honor to invite His Excellency Mr. Rueven Rivlin, President of the State of Israel, to deliver Opening Remarks.
Dear Holocaust survivors, Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Presidents, Prime Minister, Heads, and President of Parliaments, representatives of many delegations who came to us, distinguished guests, and all my friends. And I have so many good friends because Israel has so many good friends. Welcome! Welcome to Jerusalem! Yesterday we talk—
Yesterday we talked in English, and today here, from the heights of Yad Vashem, now next to the Jezreel Mound, I would like to express my words in Hebrew, and you’ll have a direct translation. So if you are ready with the direct translation, I’ll start. (speaking in foreign language)
[Translator] “Troops were absolutely incomprehensible, “intolerable,” Zinovy Tolkachev, a Jew, an artist, and a soldier in the Red Army described what he saw with his own eyes. “The earth “is sighing with atrocities “that those victims suffered. “I could not tear myself from that “portion of the land “that was cursed in the history of mankind. “All my body was horrified “and I was moaning and sobbing bitterly.” Thus he wrote: “In the camp cell there were, “there were bodies. “Thousands of people dying and dead. “Yes, some of them children, too. “Many, many children. “There were “half-naked skeletons, “some of them musselmans, emaciated. “A million six hundred thousand human beings “were in Auschwitz. “Nearly a million and a half of them were Jews. “They were all slaughtered. “A million and six hundred thousand human beings, “a million and a half of them were Jews.” On a little piece of paper with a pencil, a Corporal, Tolkachev wrote on this little slip of paper. And he wrote and wrote and reiterated again and again so that it would be remembered. So that he would never forget. So that he would never forget, that he would always remember. We too, are here standing. Kings, leaders, statesmen, heads of states and government, here in Yad Vashem, Jerusalem in order to remember and never forget. On behalf of the Jewish people, and here as the President of the State of Israel, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for having come here. Thank you for your solidarity with the Jewish people, for your commitment. For your commitment to remember the Shoah. For your commitment to the citizens of the world, for those who believe in freedom and the dignity of mankind. At the end of November, 1943, for the first time in Teheran, the three superpower leaders met those who had actually waged that war in Germany. That was not just a meeting of friends, not at all! It was one with tremendous suspicions embedded in it. Suspicions and suspiciousness because there was an abyss of differences between them. But those three leaders chose. They chose because it was incumbent upon them to choose to elevate themselves above the controversies because of one such elevated objective of the Nazi Regime being totally destroyed for the sake of mankind. That was what the Alliance was for, for the sake of humanity. For millions of human beings of my people who were exterminated and slaughtered in the Shoah. And tens of hundreds of thousands of millions who died the victims of the Second World War. The allies chose too late. Alongside that, they succeeded in facing the Nazi monster and saying, “No more!” At the end of the day, freedom and dignity in an alliance for the sake of life, they are the ones that became victorious over the Second World War, and that is not to be taken for granted. What would’ve happened in a world wherein the allies would not have united? In a world wherein the racist theory would’ve been the superpower that would’ve overruled everything? Well, we are here today, and we knew what the international arena was able to do united in order to fight together for one objective, and what they can do today. And they will continue acting together based on those shared common values: fighting against racism and antisemitism, against radical forces that are disseminating chaos and destruction and hatred. We must stand side-by-side as a wall, shoulder to shoulder against it for the sake of humanity and humankind! At the end of the Second World War, the Era of Responsibility actually was embarked upon. In other words, after the atrocities of the Holocaust and the war. The states chose to conduct themselves with responsibility. The national democracies have always reacted and the fruits that have been harvested have been in accordance with that. Afterall, enlightenment and eradication of disease, We should never see in democracy something to be taken for granted. It is not thus. We must distance ourselves from remembering that destruction and the Holocaust and the Second World War. But is incumbent upon us to remember even nowadays, dear distinguished guests, the esteemed heads of states here, we must sense and we need that responsibility. My distinguished guests, the Jewish people is a people that remembers. We remember not because we have a sense of supremacy, and not in order to sort of just think about those atrocities the whole time and the self-justice–no! But we remember because we understand that if we do not remember, then history can be repeated. Not only human beings burned in those horrible coffins in Auschwitz, but liberty, freedom, and human solidarity also came up in that smoke through the chimneys. The Nazi Germany tried to slaughter and exterminate the people, hoping to eradicate the Jews and get rid of them. Wipe them off the map. But there, the Nazi racist views caused the death of over 66 million human beings, men and women. Let us not be confused: antisemitism does not only stop with Jews, but racism and antisemitism is a malignant disease that dismantles people and states and countries, and no society, no democracy is immune to that. My dear distinguished guests, the State of Israel is not a compensation for the Holocaust. It was not accepted in order to compensate them for the events that took place, but it was established because it is our homeland, the homeland of the Jewish people, and we came from there and we always return to it after 2,000 years, a millennia of Exile.
Israel is a strong democracy. A strong democracy, and yes, a very proud member in the League of Nations. Not waiting for redemption but waiting for partnership that demands partnership. A partnership, a fully-fledged one, in the struggle and battle against antisemitism, the new and the old one, that is looming above us now in a different shape that’s walking about. National purity and the hate, xenophobia, and that is taking a terrible toll and price in the lives of people. It is a chronic disease. It is from the right, emanating from the left, too, changing shape, metamorphosing itself. Antisemitism has not changed. Yes, but we have. The State of Israel is no longer a victim. We will always defend ourselves and our country because this is the homeland and the state of the Jewish people, and it will always be responsible for the Jewish communities abroad, for their safety and security. The State of Israel is an integral part of the International League of Nations and we make sure that we’re going to strengthen scientific and moral and other values for the entire world. We intend to curb all the terror forces that want to actually reek terror and chaos around the world. All the citizens of the world who believe in freedom can be detrimentally affected by that, and thus we will continue conducting ourselves. I would like to thank you once again. A vote of gratitude to statesmen, ladies and gentlemen, true partners, for having coming here. On behalf of the people of Israel, the government of Israel, the blessed of Israel, the law of Israel, and the IDF, I would like to thank you once again for having come here. We would like to thank you for your commitment to the security of the Jewish communities, especially in such dire times. We would like to thank all those who have already adopted the antisemitic new definition by I.H.R.A. And we are calling upon all the countries of the world who have not as of yet adopted to adopt it. It is a very useful tool in the battle against antisemitism on an educational and on a public level, but also on the enforcement level. Together, all of us will continue striving to struggle and combat antisemitism, racism, hatred, hatred for the sake of hatred. We will struggle against denial of the Holocaust and forgetting it. We will continue educating our children and ensure that history will not be repeated because the era of such accountability and responsibility of all of us here has not concluded. My distinguished, dearest, dearly beloved Holocaust survivors who are with us here today, you are our miracle. Your strength we saw, I saw as a child how you came to Israel, built houses, established new families, planted trees, and you, with that, with what you suffered, you promised us our future in a democratic and Jewish, Jewish and democratic state all entwined together. No, there is no such thing as a Jewish State without democracy, for we Jews can only live in a democratic state. And thus, we will continue.
The love of humankind and your love of Israel, they are our moral compass that we will follow in the footsteps of. May the victims, our brothers, our brethren, be blessed. All those who struggled against the Nazis, the righteous among the nations and their descendants of many families are here with us, and I know of those heads of state know them well. They are here amongst us and we know that they are all engraved in our hearts ad infinitum. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this partnership in your fight for remembrance and your commitment to the eradication of antisemitism, racism, and hatred.
Thank you, President Rivlin. Ladies and gentlemen, His Excellency, Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, is now entering the hall.
It is now my honor to invite His Excellency, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, to deliver his remarks.
(speaking in foreign language)
[Translator] The President of the State of Israel, thank you for having initiated in convening this important conference. My brethren, the Holocaust survivors, distinguished guests, the righteous among the nations—
The righteous among the nations, who risked not only their own lives, but the lives of their families to save Jews during the Holocaust.
The trees on this Hallowed ground of Yad Vashem are a testament to their remarkable, extraordinary courage. Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Presidents, Mr. Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers, and the many distinguished guests and dignitaries assembled here, your presence in Jerusalem honors the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust. Israel and the Jewish people thank you.
(speaking in foreign language)
[Translator] Auschwitz and Jerusalem, an abyss and a summit, Auschwitz the destruction, Jerusalem the resurrection. Auschwitz was the incarceration, enslavement. Jerusalem is freedom, liberty. Auschwitz was death, Jerusalem is life. 75 years ago, our people, the Jewish people, were liberated from the Valley of Death. It was the biggest ever, the greatest ever in the history of mankind. No one of those who survived have forgotten a thing. The helplessness, the insufferable moments that never ended, the flames, the smoke, and the mourning, the loss. Slowly but surely at the same time, they feel a tremendous vote of gratitude for the day of the liberation when the Red Army marched into Auschwitz. The tremendous sacrifice of the allies of the soldiers and the people. I am here today with President Rivlin and President Putin from a very moving ceremony of the inauguration of a moment to the Siege of Leningrad. And that is one of the intolerable, actual realizations of what that victory over the Nazis was, but on such a day, it is incumbent upon us to say for the six million people of our people, a million and a half children amongst them, that those gates of Hell were broken into too late. And therefore, in the foundation of the resurrection and this inception of the State of Israel, there is one decree: there will never be another Holocaust!
As a Prime Minister of the State of Israel, that is my most supreme commitment.
Ladies and gentlemen, Israel is eternally grateful to the immense sacrifice that was made by the allies, by the peoples and the soldiers, to defeat the Nazis and save our common civilization. Without that sacrifice, there would be no survivors today. Yet we also remember that some 80 years ago when the Jewish people faced annihilation, the world largely turned its back on us, leaving us to the most bitter of fates. For many, Auschwitz is the ultimate symbol of evil. It is certainly that. The tattooed arms of those who passed under its infamous gates, the piles of shoes and eyeglasses, scenes from the dispossessed in their final moments. The gas chambers and crematorium that turned millions of people into ash, all these bear witness to the horrific depths to which humanity can sink. But to the Jewish people, Auschwitz is more than the ultimate symbol of evil. It is also the ultimate symbol of Jewish powerlessness. It is the culmination of what can happen when our people have no voice, no land, no shield. Today, we have a voice, we have a land, and we have a shield.
Today, our voice is heard in the White House, and in the Kremlin, in the halls of the United Nations and the American Congress, in London, Paris, and Berlin, and in countless capitols around the world, many of them represented here by you. Today, we have a land. Our ancient homeland which we brought back to life to which we in gathered the exiles of our people, and in which we built an advanced and powerful state. And today, we have a shield and what a shield it is! Time after time, the strength of our arms, the courage of our soldiers and the spirit of our people have prevailed against those who’ve sought to destroy us.
Our hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors, and a growing number of them are seizing it to build with Israel bridges of hope and reconciliation. Ladies and gentlemen, the Jewish people have learned the lessons of the Holocaust. To take, always to take seriously the threats of those who seek our destruction, to confront threats when they are small, and above all, even though we deeply, deeply appreciate the great support of our friends, to always have the power to defend ourselves by ourselves. We have learned that Israel must always remain the master of its fate.
The Jewish state has learned the lessons of the Holocaust. Has the world learned the lessons of the Holocaust? There are some signs of hope, and this extraordinary gathering is one of them. Today, the dangers of racism, hateful ideologies, and antisemitism are better understood. Many recognized a simple truth: that what starts with a hatred of the Jews doesn’t end with the Jews. Represented here today are governments that understand that confronting antisemitism in all its forms protects their societies as well, and Israel deeply appreciates this. We also appreciate, as many understand, as President Macron said yesterday, that Anti-Zionism is merely the latest form of antisemitism.
These are all real signs of hope and understanding and cognizance of how to protect our civilization and our world. And yet, and yet I am concerned. I am concerned that we have yet to see a unified and resolute stance against the most antisemitic regime on the planet. A regime that openly seeks to develop nuclear weapons and annihilate the one and only Jewish state. Israel salutes President Trump and Vice President Pence for confronting the tyrants of Tehran that subjugate their own people. The tyrants of Tehran that subjugate their own people and threaten the peace and security of the entire world. They threaten the peace and security of everyone in the Middle East, and everyone beyond. I call on all governments to join the vital effort of confronting Iran. In any case, I wish to assure, again, our people and all our friends, Israel will do whatever it must do to defend our state, defend our people, and defend the Jewish future.
(speaking in foreign language)
[Translator] Ladies and gentlemen, as the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I obligate myself. I commit that those words, never again, will not be an empty slogan, but it will be an ongoing decree, an imperative that must be followed. Continuing and following that voyage of resurrection that started in Isaiah’s day of the Dry Bones. From enslavement to liberty and freedom, from Auschwitz to Jerusalem, from darkness to light. In the words of Isaiah the Prophet, “For the people walking in the darkness “they saw a great light.” Thank you very much, one and all.
Thank you, Prime Minister Netanyahu. It is my honor to invite the founder and president of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation, and the President of the European Jewish Congress, Dr. Moshe Kantor, to deliver his remarks.
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, and dear, dear Holocaust survivors, I would like to begin by expressing my deepest gratitude to President Rivlin who, two years ago, strongly—
Strongly supported the idea to lead the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem under the special partnership of Yed Vashem and European Jewish Congress.
I would like to address here today just three points. Number one: why is antisemitism a threat to humanity and not only for Jewish people? Number two: what is the situation today around antisemitism and especially for European Jews? And number three: what are the practical steps that must be taken to stop this threat? While granting equal rights to the Jews of France, Napoleon Bonaparte said, “The national attitude toward Jews “is the barometer of society’s civilization.” And why is that? Historically, Jews were always among the most loyal citizens of their countries and did their best to integrate, and to become pillars of society in all walks of life. Those who wanted to dismantle the fabric of society, extremists from both right and left, the Jews were always a symbol of society’s foundations. Rejection of the Jews was a rejection of the world order. They were always the first target, but by no means the last. The Nazi erased 1/3 of Jewish people, six million, but in total more than 60 million people were killed during the Second World War, and the world just stopped at the gates of destruction. If extremists are not stopped at the gates of antisemitism, they will eventually take over executive power in their states, and what is the situation today? Who could imagine that just 75 years after the Holocaust Jews would again be afraid to walk the streets of Europe wearing Jewish symbols? Who could have imagined that synagogues would be attacked again, and cemeteries desecrated and even destroyed on a regular basis? As President of European Jewish Congress, I can only offer you a picture of communities hiding behind high fences and thick security doors. More than 80% of them feel unsafe in Europe today while more than 40% are considering leaving Europe entirely, and in recent years, 3% have done so annually. If we think about this figure for a moment, it means that at this rate, in only 30 years, there could be no Jews in Europe. What must be done? Firstly, we must educate about the Holocaust and about the dangers of antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia, and particularly from a very early age. Secondly, we must introduce meaningful legislation. Finally, thirdly, fully enforce it. In this regard, there is so much that we can learn from one another. For example, Germany adopted a law two years ago against online hate speech, addressing one of the most powerful platforms of antisemitism and racism today: the internet. The United States has recently addressed the growing antisemitism on university campuses with an Executive Order which permits the restricting of federal funds for universities that do not combat antisemitism. France passed legislation against boycotts of people and products based on nationality, addressing the new type of antisemitism which targets the Jewish state. Just a few weeks ago, they passed a resolution acknowledging that Anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Great Britain is a model of how effectively to respond to antisemitism. It created a task force combined of law enforcement agencies, legal institutions, and civil society organizations to effectively coordinate and act against antisemitism. And Russia, where we find maybe the lowest rates of antisemitism due to a very uncompromising, long-term policy towards antisemitism, and antisemitic incidents are treated with maximum severity, therefore practically eliminating antisemitism in the public arena.
These five positive examples of strong leadership should be common all over Europe and all over the world. So to resume, we have to equate legally and practically the words and actions of antisemitism to the words and actions of extremism and even terrorism, otherwise it be will too late when extremism takes over executive power country by country, which means your power and our mutual future. We are together today united in our words and in our belief for a future free of antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia. Together, we will plant the seeds of trust and belief so that our daily prayers for salvation will be answered. I thank each and every one of you for being here, for your dedication, belief, and commitment. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Kantor. We are honored to have with us here an International Philharmonic Orchestra made up of musicians from Russia, France, Germany, Israel, Poland, and the United States. This orchestra is led by Artist for Peace, Maestro Vladimir Spivakov.
It will now perform the piece, “Evening Prayer: Last Night in the Ghetto,” from the symphony Yellow Stars, composed by Isaac Schwartz.
The allied nations came together in order to defeat Nazi Germany and its collaborators. Their joint efforts and unity of purpose saved the world from Nazi evil. The Red Army bravely and resolutely led the defeat of the Nazis on the Eastern Front, and together with its allies, freed Europe from the Nazi grip. Soviet troops liberated Majdanek, Auschwitz, Birkenau, and other Nazi camps. It is my honor to invite His Excellency, Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, to deliver his remarks.
(speaking in foreign language)
[Translator] Mr. President, Prime Minister, colleagues, friends, ladies, gentlemen, we’ve gathered today at this International Forum to honor the memory of the Holocaust victims. It is our shared responsibility that has brought us together. The debt we owe to the past and to the future. We mourn for all the victims of the Nazis, including six million Jews tortured to death in ghettos and concentration camps, and thoughtlessly slaughtered in punitive expeditions. 40% of them are citizens of the former Soviet Union. So, for us, the Holocaust has always been for us a deep wound. It is a tragedy we shall never forget. Before coming to Jerusalem, I read the authentic documents, the briefs from the officers of the Red Army after the liberation of Auschwitz. I have to tell you, colleagues, it is very difficult to read these details that speak in detail how this camp was organized, how this machinery for the cold-blooded extermination of people was working, it was almost unbearable to read. Many of them were hand-written by the soldiers and the officers of the Red Army on the second, the third day after the liberation of the prisoners, and these briefs give us a chance to feel the shock that they felt when they saw what was happening there. They witnessed things that made them feel pain, indignation, and compassion. Marshal Konev, who was in charge of the military operation to take the densely-populated Silesian industrial area of Germany, tried to save as many civilians as possible once he was informed of the atrocities that were happening in Auschwitz. He forbade himself from ever seeing that concentration camp. Subsequently, he wrote in his memoirs that he did not have the right to lose back then his fortitude. He did not have the right to let the righteous feeling of vengeance blind him because that would have brought about additional victims on the innocent people that lived in Germany. On January the 27th, marked the 75th anniversary since the liberation of Auschwitz. This hell pit where people from different countries were driven to be tortured, experimented upon, and exterminated in droves. This hell pit took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including more than one million Jews. Crimes perpetrated by Nazis, they were carefully sorted through, planned, final solution to the Jewish Question, as they called it, that is, colleagues, one of the blackest, the most shameful pages in the world history. Nor should we forget that this crime had accomplices whose cruelty often surpassed that of their masters. Those death factories and concentration camps were operated not just by Nazis, but they their henchmen and accomplices in many European countries. It’s where these thugs operated, and they occupied territories of the Soviet Union that the biggest number of Jews were slaughtered. In Ukraine, 1.4 million Jews were slaughtered. In Lithuania, 220,000 people. I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that that is 95% of the pre-War Jewish population of Lithuania. In Latvia, 77,000 people, and so on and so forth. Just several hundred Latvian Jews managed to survive the Holocaust. The Holocaust is a deliberate extermination of people and I have to remind you that Nazis had in store the same fate for many other nations. Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Pales, other nationalities were declared as inferior people and their lands were supposed to become ground for Nazis to provide them with a comfortable existence. Whereas Slavonic nations were condemned, either to be exterminated or to be reduced to slaves with no voice of their own, with no culture or historical memory or language. Back then, in 1945, the end to these barbaric plans was put first and foremost by the Soviet Nation. As was mentioned, it managed to protect its Fatherland and brought freedom to Europe. We paid a terrible price unheard of before by any nation. We had to sacrifice 27 million people. That was the price of victory. The memory of the Holocaust would only become a lesson and a warning, and it is comprehensive and integral with no cuts or omissions. Regrettably, right now, the memory of war and its lessons fall victim increasingly often to short-term political interests, which is absolutely inadmissible. The duty of current politicians, political leaders, and statesmen as to protect the good name of both living and fallen heroes as well as innocent people who fell victim to Nazis and their henchmen. And to do that, we need to use all our information, political and cultural, the authority and clout of our countries throughout the world. I am confident that everyone attending the Forum shares these concerns, and is willing to stand together with Russia to protect the truth and justice. And we certainly all bear responsibility to make sure that the terrible tragedies of the past war should never repeat themselves. We have to make sure that future generations remember the horrors of Holocaust and concentration camps, the Siege of Leningrad. As Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, we have inaugurated a monument to honor the victims of the Siege of Leningrad. We have to remember Babi Yar, as well as the village of Khatyn, burnt to the ground. We have to be vigilant not to miss the first sprouts of hatred, of chauvinism, of xenophobia, and antisemitism start to rear their ugly head, or when we see surreptitious attempts to condemn xenophobia or other manifestations of these phenomena. The oblivion of the past, fragmentation of the face of affairs can bring about terrible consequences. We need to find the courage not just to speak about that directly, but also to do everything in our power to protect peace. I believe that the founding members of the United Nations should lead by example of the five nations incumbent upon which has the special responsibility to preserve our civilization. With some of our counterparts, we’ve discussed this, and as far as I understand, the attitude is positive. We suggest that a meeting should be held of the head of state and government of the P5: Russia, China, the U.S., France, and the U.K. It can take place in any country, at any place of the world where counterparts find it convenient. Russia is willing to engage in a serious conversation, and without further adieu, we are willing to send this address to the leaders of the UN Security Council P5. We have many important issues at hand. Just recently one of those is Libya was discussed in Berlin at the initiative of Chancellor Merkel, but will have to get back to the United Nations and adopt a resolution, but there are many other issues. Holding such a meeting in 2020, I believe is gonna be emblematic as we will celebrate the 75th anniversary since the end of the Second World War, as well as the establishment of the United Nations, a summit of nations that made the main contribution to routing the aggressor to building a post-World War order that could play an important role in finding collective responses to the challenges and threats of today. And it will demonstrate our common devotion to alliance and also to historical memory to those lofty ideals and values our forefathers fought side by side for. And in conclusion, I would like to say thank you to our Israeli colleagues for the warm and hospitable welcome here in Jerusalem, and wish the participants of the conference as well as all citizens of Israel peace and all the best. Thank you very much.
Thank you, President Putin. The entry of the United States into the war was critical in the ally’s fight against Nazi Germany and the other axis powers, liberating Western Europe and ensuring the ally’s eventual victory. American soldiers freed Buchenwald, Dachau, and other Nazi concentration camps. It is my honor to invite His Excellency Mr. Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States of America, to deliver his remarks.
President Rivlin, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Your Majesties, Presidents, Excellencies, honored survivors and distinguished guests, it is deeply humbling for me to stand before you today on behalf of American people as we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. On this occasion here on Mount Herzl, we gather to fulfill a solemn obligation. An obligation of remembrance. To never allow the memory of those who died in the Holocaust to be forgotten by anyone, anywhere in the world. The word remember appears no fewer than 169 times in the Hebrew Bible, for memory is the constant obligation of all generations. And today, we pause to remember what President Donald Trump rightly called the dark stain on human history. The greatest evil ever perpetuated by man against man in the long catalog of human crime. The faces of the million and a half children reduced to smoke under a silent sky for the crime of having a single Jewish grandparent. The night Elie Wiesel called seven times sealed consumed the faith of so many then and challenges the faith of so many still. Today we remember what happens when the powerless cry for help and the powerful refuse to answer. The town’s name was Oswiecim. As part of their plan to destroy the very existence of Polish culture, the Nazis gave Polish towns German names. This one, they called Auschwitz. When soldiers opened the gates of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, they found 7,000 half-starved half-naked prisoners, hundreds of boxes of camp records that documented the greatest mass murder in history. Before the war was over in its five years of existence, more than 1.1 million men, women, and children would perish at Auschwitz. As my wife and I can attest firsthand from this past year, one cannot walk the grounds of Auschwitz without being overcome with emotion and grief. One cannot see the piles of shoes, the gas chambers, the crematoriums, the lone boxcar facing the gate to the camp. And those grainy photographs of men, women, and children being sent to their deaths without asking, how could they? Today we mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve. We remember the names and the faces and the promise of the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. Today, we also pay tribute to those who survived, who all these years have borne witness to that evil and have served mankind by their example.
And today we honor and remember the memory of all the allied forces including more than two million American soldiers who left hearth and home, suffered appalling casualties, and freed a continent from the grip of tyranny. And finally, we pay tribute to the memory of those non-Jewish heroes who saved countless lives. Those, the people of Israel call the righteous among the nations. In an age of indifference, they acted. In an age of fear, they showed courage. And their memory and their example should kindle anew the flame of our hearts to do the same in our time.
We must be prepared to stand as they did against the wave of their times. We must be prepared to confront and expose the vile tide of antisemitism that is fueling hate and violence all across the world, and we must stand together. In that same spirit, we must also stand strong against the leading state purveyor of antisemitism. Against the one government in the world that denies the Holocaust as a matter of state policy and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. The world must stand strong against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
And finally, we must have the courage to recognize all the leaders and all the nations that are gathered here, that today we have the responsibility and the power to ensure that what we remember here today can never happen again.
Mister Prime Minister, as we honor and remember the six million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust, the world can only marvel at the faith and resilience of the Jewish people, who just three years after walking in the Valley of the Shadow of Death rose up from the ashes to reclaim a Jewish future, and rebuild the Jewish state.
And I’m proud to say as Vice President of the United States that the American people have been with you every step of the way since 1948. And so we will remain. As President Trump declared in his historic visit to Jerusalem, the bond between our two peoples is woven together in the fabric of our hearts. And so it shall always be.
Today we remember not simply the liberation of Auschwitz, but also the triumph of freedom, a promise fulfilled, a people restored to their rightful place among the nations of the Earth. And we remember. We remember the long night of that past, the survivors and the faces of those we lost. The heroes who stood against those evil times, and today we gather nearly 50 nations strong here in Jerusalem to say with one voice, “Never again!”
Through pogroms, persecutions and expulsions in the ghettos, and finally, even through the death camps, the Jewish people clung to an ancient promise that He would never leave you or forsake you. And that He would lead this people to inherit the land that He swore to your ancestors that He would give them. And so today, as we bear witness to the strength and resilience and the faith of the Jewish people, so too we bear witness to God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people.
May the memory of the martyrs be enshrined in the hearts of all humanity for all time. May God bless the Jewish people, State of Israel, the United States and all the nations gathered here. And may He who creates peace in the heavens create peace for us and for all the world.
Amen.