news

European Parliament to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

“We will never forget the 6 million Jews murdered in cold blood,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Parliament plenary session for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 2024. Credit: European Jewish Press.
The European Parliament plenary session for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 2024. Credit: European Jewish Press.

The European Parliament will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day during a solemn plenary session in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed annually on Jan. 27, the day the Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau 80 years ago.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola will open the solemn sitting followed by a musical performance of Pál Hermann’s concerto.

Corrie Hermann, 92, will then address MEPs and speak about her father, Hungarian-born cellist and composer Pál (Paul) Hermann, whom the Nazis murdered in 1944. The musical performance will feature his original Gagliano cello.

Born on March 27, 1902, in Budapest, Hermann was a student of Béla Bartók and considered one of the best cellists of his era. He moved to Berlin in the 1920s and gave concerts all over Europe on his Gagliano cello. In 1933, Hermann fled to Belgium and France.

Upon his arrest during a roundup by the Vichy regime in the south of France in February 1944, he managed to throw a note from the train, asking for the Gagliano to be saved from the Nazis.

The note was found and a friend of Hermann’s cycled 100 kilometers to rescue the instrument. He broke into Hermann’s house, replaced the Gagliano with a lesser instrument and escaped with the Gagliano strapped onto his back.

Hermann was deported to Toulouse and the Drancy internment camp. On May 15, 1944, he was sent to the Baltics with convoy No. 73, disappearing forever.

His cello was rediscovered 80 years later being played by a competitor in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels

Members of the European Parliament will observe a minute’s silence. The ceremony will end with a performance of “Kaddish” by Maurice Ravel.

‘Our duty as Europeans to remember’

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe has a duty to honor the memories of the victims of the Holocaust.

“Tomorrow marks 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau,” she posted on X.

“We will never forget the 6 million Jews murdered in cold blood and all the victims of the Holocaust,” she added.

“As the last survivors fade, it is our duty as Europeans to remember the unspeakable crimes and to honor the memories of the victims.”

In a statement, the members of the European Council said: “As we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we mark the 80th year since the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. We remember the unprecedented horrors of the Holocaust. Six million Jews and millions of others were murdered, 1.1 million in Auschwitz alone.”

The statement continues: “Today, we are witnessing an unprecedented increase in antisemitism on our continent, not seen since the Second World War. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the alarming rise in violent antisemitic incidents, Holocaust denial and distortion, as well as conspiracy theories and prejudice against Jews.

“More than ever, it is crucial that we uphold our responsibility to honor the victims of the Holocaust. We are determined to combat antisemitism and to protect and foster Jewish life in Europe. We denounce all forms of discrimination, intolerance, racism and xenophobia, and will take decisive action to address these threats to democratic societies,” it said.

“Respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the freedoms of expression and religion or belief, as well as the rights of persons belonging to minorities, must and will guide our actions at all times, in line with the values upon which our European Union is founded, and which are common to us all.”

The statement ended with “Never again is now.”

Originally published by the European Jewish Press.

Topics