These were the painfully said words of Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, former chief rabbi of Israel and currently chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, in his remarks at the special conference initiated by the European Rabbinical Conference in Strasbourg for the 76th anniversary of the “Day of Salvation and Liberation” of the European Jews from the Nazis.
Among participants of the conference were vice president of the Conference of European Rabbis and Chief Rabbi of France Rabbi Chaim Corsia; Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Mr. Bjorn Berg; European Council spokesman Daniel Holtgen; Ms. Natalie Ross, a senior executive at one of the top brands in France; and Mr. Mark Halter, a famous writer and philosopher who was born in Warsaw and during World War II fled with his parents from the Warsaw Ghetto to Ukraine, Moscow and Uzbekistan.
The special event will also be addressed by Imam Hassen Chalgoumi, head of the French Imams Conference, who was previously hosted in the Knesset and has repeatedly stated his support for Israel and its determined opposition to terrorism. He even expressed his opposition to the BDS movement, declaring in Samaria that support for the activities of this boycott movement was against the laws of the Koran.
RABBI LAU said: “Why do I say that all the Jews of the world – even after the liberation 76 years ago, and even today – are actually Holocaust survivors? There was a globe in Adolf Hitler's office, and a lot of numbers were marked on the globe in black ink – black ink! Every country on the globe was numbered. The famous New York mayor, Mr. Ed Koch, told me he saw it with his own eyes.
“Mr. Koch asked the guide who showed them the display, ‘What are these numbers stamped on this globe?’ The guide explained that Hitler had given a mission statement on the first day of the war – September 1, 1939 – to record with maximum accuracy the number of Jews in all countries, even in Albania!” Lau related.
“Moreover, he did not intend to end the war until the work of purging the globe of all these numbers was completed. Not a single Jew would remain, including the Jews living in America,” he said.
“Therefore, all the Jews of the world are sons and grandsons of those Jews who were in the world then: They are actually Holocaust survivors!” the former chief rabbi said.
“All of these are actually survivors – all of these, like my dear friend Mr. Gabriel German Zakharyayev, who initiated the 26th of Iyar as the “Day of Salvation and Liberation,” which is actually the Jewish date for the end of World War II,” Lau said.
“Since then, we are survivors: all of us, all Jews,” he said. “Now you understand how important this date is. The Jewish date and not May 9, [but rather,] 26 Iyar is the right day! Look at the Jewish tradition, in Jewish life, we recently held [Passover] Seder night, for the survivors. Remember the Jewish date of the survivors. So also on the Hanukkah holiday that we celebrate on the 25th of Kislev, we survived Antiochus Epiphanes; we remember Judas Maccabaeus.”
PRAYERS AND events marking the Day of Salvation and Liberation will be held in Moscow, Israel, China, Argentina, Australia, the United States, Tunisia and Sweden, as well as other countries where events can be held and synagogues attended.
Under the auspices of the Conference of European Rabbis and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, hundreds of Israeli and Diaspora rabbis and public figures will participate in a live prayer for the healing of the terrible pandemic that still plagues many in Europe. The rabbis will carry a prayer for the healing of the patients of the terrible plague that still is spreading in Europe.
In addition, at the initiative of conference president Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, prayers will be offered on Thursday – a week after the Meron disaster – to lift the souls of the late victims and to heal the wounded.
At the Radisson Royal Hotel in front of the Russian White House in the center of Moscow, the chief rabbis of Russia will meet on Thursday with representatives of the President's Office, members of parliament and scientists at the Day of Salvation and Liberation conference.
Addressing the audience will be Prof. Avraham Blumenfeld, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Judaism in Vienna; Prof. Boris Kossoy, vice-rector of the Jewish University of Odessa; and Prof. Kirill Pepperman, Head of the Institute for Holocaust Studies in Ariel University’s Department of Israeli Heritage, as well as other scientists.
At a press conference ahead of the prayers and events, the initiator of the Day of Salvation and Liberation Mr. Gabriel German Zakharyayev said: “In the Final Solution, they wanted to destroy us all together – so [therefore,] we are one people and must [continue to] be.”