Athens, 17 June 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are living in a globalized environment. Globalized, but – fortunately – not homogenized. In an environment the existence of which would be inconceivable without respect for our fellow human beings and their diversity. Greece is currently chairing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. On a continent tormented some years ago by a declaration of hate unleashed by Nazism, slaughtering 6 million victims based solely on the criterion of creed. As the OSCE Chairmanship and as a nation profoundly devoted to the ideals of Freedom and Democracy, we declare our faith in the free movement of ideas, in dialogue, in acceptance, in intellectual tolerance. At the same time, we declare our resolve to fight to establish these in our society as basic axioms; axioms that will also inspire and guide younger generations. Generations that may see such values as self-evident. It is up to us to teach them the perils of relaxing one’s guard. That they must always be vigilant. Always stand opposed to anyone who works against Freedom and Democracy; undermining them in word or deed. However harmless these attempts may appear at first sight.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s event In Memory of the Greek Victims of the Holocaust gives expression to the Foreign Ministry’s demonstrable sensitivity vis-à-vis the Holocaust and its victims – and the Greek victims in particular. This evenings event has two further points of departure that should mention: First, it is being held within the framework of Greece’s 2009 Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an agency well known for its humanitarian dimension. Second, it coincides with the publication by the Foreign Ministry of a book entitled “Greeks in Auschwitz-Birkenau”. A publication that has its own point of departure: This year will see the opening of a permanent Greek exhibit at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum, which was achieve through the signing of a Greek-Polish bilateral agreement in 2008. These are without a doubt initiatives that shed light on this facet of history and underscore Greece’s longstanding interest in the protection of human rights and the eradication of racism.

The specific steps the Greek state is taking – I remind you that five years ago a law was ratified by the Hellenic Parliament designating 27 January Holocaust Remembrance Day in Greece – are a matter of conscience and obligation for all of us.

Conscience, because of the suffering visited on mankind by the intolerance, violence and misdeeds that cancel annul our civilization.

And our obligation to intensify the fight against discrimination, to work together towards the peaceful coexistence of all peoples and the protection of human rights.

Today in Europe, the rise of powers inspired by anti-Semitic rhetoric, the isolated figures in our societies who adopt these extreme views, must concern and mobilise us. We cannot dismiss these voices as marginal eccentrics. We have to condemn them in their incipience. Just as we condemn the recent desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Frontzo, Ioannina; an act that has no place in modern Greek society and that evokes revulsion and strong disapproval in all of us.

But beyond the case-by-case handling of incidents that occur, it is clear that the eradication of racism from society can only be achieved through education. Our country’s participation in the International Task Force for the Memory, Education and Remembrance of the Holocaust has enriched learning materials at the primary and secondary levels through teaching about the Holocaust. It is our obligation and duty to strengthen the historical conscience of younger generations. Nonsense cannot be prohibited by law, but it can be vanquished if reason prevails. Educators have a vital role to play in this. The education seminars that have been organized to date by the Jewish Museum of Greece – in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and foundations abroad, including Yad Vashem and the Centre de Shoah, in Paris – within the framework of the “Educate the Educators” programme, have already proved useful in teaching young pupils and students about the Holocaust.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are all well aware of the historical reality. World War II was a time of painful ordeals for Greece, but that war was more excruciating still for Jewish Greeks, who were literally exterminated. Of the 6 million – young, old, women, young children – who were driven to death camps from all of Europe, 600,000 were Greeks; mostly Jews, but also Orthodox who were arrested for resistance activities or because the helped their Jewish fellow citizens to avoid deportation. Some of these people survive today and have honoured us with their presence here. I thank them from my heart for the honour they do us. Their presence alone marks the victory of freedom over fascism, the victory of moderation and reason over irrationality and violence. Their testimony is a poignant lesson. A lesson in history, a lesson in democratic ideals, a lesson in respect for human dignity.

The volume you hold in your hands is about this heretofore unknown section of our national history. In this book – which is accompanied by photographs from that time and archive photographs, as well as a 20-minute DVD – the uprising of 300 Greeks is related for the first time. An uprising unique in the history of the Nazi concentration camps. They blew up one of the five crematoria at Birkenau. “For a few short minutes, they were free,” writes survivor Marcel Natzaris in his chronicle of that uprising. Among those who rebelled were brave officers of the Greek army, Jewish by creed, who had returned from the Albanian front only to be arrested by the Nazis. Their heroism, of course, led to their deaths. But they died with dignity, having first sung the Greek national anthem and raised a makeshift Greek flag they had fashioned out of their uniforms.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country that holds the 2009 OSCE Chairmanship I would like to call upon all states and governments to undertake every possible effort to combat anti-Semitism, racism and any form of discrimination. We cannot be complacent when faced with concealed forms of anti-Semitism or with the scandalous and undisguised appearance of neo-Nazi groups that threaten our society by carrying the virus of intolerance.

Some – fortunately very few – even deny the Holocaust. They allege that the Holocaust never happened. We all know very well that the Holocaust did happen. And that, in itself, as a hideous collective crime, it cannot be compared to anything, it cannot be classified along with other events and it cannot but be identified with the Nazi atrocities.

Turning a blind eye and being complacent have no place in the history of humanity. This is the clear message that we should all send in every direction as a guideline for our own generation and the coming generations.

Allow me to conclude with a quote from Amos Oz: “We are all in favour of peace, but there may come a time when a democratic society has to go to war. If democratic societies had not done so in 1940, what would Europe be like now?”

We should do everything in our power never to have to find out. We owe it to the six million people who were sacrificed on the altar of peace, tolerance and democracy.

Thank you for your attention.