Monarchs, presidents and prime ministers were in Jerusalem yesterday to remember the Holocaust.
They were given stark warnings not to ignore escalating antisemitism and violence against Jews in Europe and the United States.
Leaders congregated at the Yad Vashem remembrance centre on the western hills of Jerusalem for a three-hour event held by the fifth World Holocaust Forum.
Organisers hoped the meeting would provide a united front against anti-Jewish hatred, including in countries run by many of the attendees.
"Historical lessons were forgotten. Remembering the past is our duty, but it is not enough,” said the narrator of a video played at the start of the ceremony, as the Russian president, Vladamir Putin, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the US vice-president, Mike Pence, sat in the front row.German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier was the first to speak at the event.
It was the first time that a German representative had been invited to the event.President Steinmeier spoke in English. Out of respect to the victims of the Holocaust he did not utter one word of German.
Vladimir Putin said Russia lost more than 20 million people, had “paid the highest price, more than any other” in the war.
He added that the European concentration camps were “operated not just by Nazis but by their henchmen in various countries”.
They were given stark warnings not to ignore escalating antisemitism and violence against Jews in Europe and the United States.
Leaders congregated at the Yad Vashem remembrance centre on the western hills of Jerusalem for a three-hour event held by the fifth World Holocaust Forum.
Organisers hoped the meeting would provide a united front against anti-Jewish hatred, including in countries run by many of the attendees.
"Historical lessons were forgotten. Remembering the past is our duty, but it is not enough,” said the narrator of a video played at the start of the ceremony, as the Russian president, Vladamir Putin, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the US vice-president, Mike Pence, sat in the front row.German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier was the first to speak at the event.
It was the first time that a German representative had been invited to the event.President Steinmeier spoke in English. Out of respect to the victims of the Holocaust he did not utter one word of German.
Vladimir Putin said Russia lost more than 20 million people, had “paid the highest price, more than any other” in the war.
He added that the European concentration camps were “operated not just by Nazis but by their henchmen in various countries”.
England's Prince Charles also spoke as did French president Emmanuel Macron.
It is 75 years since the Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau.
That was all made possible by the Soviet victory in Stalingrad, which Russia will celebrate on February 2, remembering the great battle on the Volga that ended on February 2, 1943.
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