Władysław Bartoszewski marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the European Parliament

The European Parliament’s first ever commemorations of the Shoah were devoted to the memory of the Warsaw Ghetto insurrectionists and Raoul Wallenberg. During the ceremony, one of the rooms in the European Parliament was named after the Swedish diplomat who helped save the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews during WW II.

“The fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto is a deed of the greatest moral weight. Those young people had no illusions, they knew that the eastern front is far away and that no western front existed at that time. Realistically, they could not count on anyone’s help. They could have saved themselves, they could have escaped. They stayed to give testimony, to send a message. Their message was that in defence of values, human rights and fundamental freedoms, no sacrifice is too great,” Professor Bartoszewski stated during the ceremony held on 22 January in the European Parliament. A former Polish foreign minister, Professor Bartoszewski is currently the Plenipotentiary of Prime Minister Donald Tusk for International Dialogue.

Władysław Bartoszewski, who co-organised the “Żegota” Polish Council to Aid Jews  during World War II, underscored that the European Parliament’s commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust was an opportunity to remind the European Union as a whole about the values for which the Warsaw Ghetto’s fighters had risen up in 1943.

“This matter alludes to one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill".  He who saves one life, saves the whole world. He who saves one man, gives testimony to the significance of his own humanity. It is for this reason that today’s ceremony is so very important for me, for the Polish people, and for all those who – thanks to the decision of the European Parliament – will learn about it in their countries,” said Professor Bartoszewski.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a memorial day adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2005 and  marked  on 27 January – the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi extermination camp. The ceremony was organised in the European Parliament for the first time, on the initiative of European Parliament President Martin Schultz in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress (EJC).