«If they ask me: “Can we talk about Gaza on Remembrance Day?”, I reply that we certainly can talk about it».
The senator for life said it Liliana Segre, survived Auschwitz, speaking at the Quirinale on the occasion of Remembrance Day. The senator answered four questions from as many students who have just participated in the Memory Trip to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp where millions of Jews were killed during the Shoah.
“The universal value of the teachings that derive from the Shoah leads us to always reflect on the tragedies and crimes that still spread throughout the world”, explained Segre. However he clarified: «The problem is another. Gaza cannot be used “against” Remembrance Day; it cannot be accepted that it becomes an occasion for revenge on the victims of the time.”
Addressing young people in particular, he underlined that «Remembrance Day is not for Jews, it is primarily for everyone else. It serves to remember our history, what fascist Italy did at the time, what Nazi Germany and many European states did against the “races” considered inferior, against the weakest and different, against humanity.”
Segre denounced the resurgence of anti-Semitism also in light of the current conflicts: «The tragic conflict in Gaza, with the enormous suffering suffered by many innocent people, has caused an anti-Semitism that previously seemed dormant to explode again. The key principle, as with all racism, is that of collective guilt… Today we have reached a further expansion, whereby guilt even goes back in time and we have to read sentences like: “The victims of that time have perpetrated a new genocide today.” A delusional and repugnant thought, which is at the basis of the retaliations that are affecting Remembrance Day.”
Commenting on the world situation, Segre added: «I am incredulous and lost, as I think everyone is today. Even the rulers don’t know which way to turn when faced with the display of pure arrogance… We live in a state of restlessness that evokes distant memories in me.” But he also indicated a hope: «I think that in this critical moment we have a hope, which is called Europe. The European Union must prove itself up to the challenges. No longer just money and markets, but a proud and courageous community of democracies, capable of defending itself and advancing development and social justice together.”
Regarding her long testimony activity in schools, the senator said: «When, after thirty years of testimony, I decided not to do it anymore, it was not an easy moment… It was a split between the old woman I am and the thirteen year old I was. I was talking about the thirteen year old, I was my own grandmother, I was sometimes desperate and I understood that I couldn’t go crazy». But he also recalled the emotion of the young people: «Even today I meet students from back then who remember those meetings… They assure me: “I haven’t forgotten, I am that ‘candle of memory’”».
Finally, on the birth of the Republic and the referendum of 2 June 1946, Segre observed: «The choice of the Republic was an act of justice. King Vittorio Emanuele III was responsible for many betrayals… The betrayal against Jewish citizens with the approval of the racist laws of 1938… The betrayal towards the Italian soldiers, who had sworn loyalty to the king and who were abandoned to their fate after 8 September 1943″.
He also reminded the IMI (Italian Military Internees): «My husband was one of the IMI, 600 thousand of whom honored their homeland by refusing to join the Italian Social Republic and remained in the concentration camps for 20 months by choice». Liliana Segre’s message is clear: Remembrance Day remains an opportunity not only to remember the past, but to reflect on the present and on everyone’s responsibility in building a more just world.
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, during the celebration of Remembrance Day at the Quirinale
(HANDLE)
And the President of the Republic also spoke about the re-emergence of anti-Semitism Sergio Mattarellareiterating the centrality of memory as the foundation of civil coexistence. Mattarella recalled that «the Italian Republic and its Constitution were born against the inhuman and bloody ideologies that had poisoned the first half of the twentieth century» and that «they arose from the innocent blood of those deported to extermination camps and of freedom fighters».
The head of state warned that «in the Republic there is no place for the poison of racial hatred, for the seeds of discrimination, for the anti-Semitism which still emerges dangerously, for those who preach violence” and underlined that remembering the Shoah “is not just a duty of memory: it means forcefully renewing our civil pact which is based on brotherhood, respect, coexistence”.
Mattarella also called back to the responsibility of the European Union in countering anti-Semitic and racist tendencies: «The recurrence and spread of manifestations of racism and anti-Semitism is an indication of high danger and calls for rigorous action on the part of the authorities throughout the European Union».
On Remembrance Day also the thoughts of Pope Leo XIV, who entrusted his thoughts to a post on his account the Church remains faithful to the firm position of the Declaration Our Aetate against all forms of anti-Semitism and rejects any discrimination or harassment on grounds of ethnicity, language, nationality or religion.”
