60th year of the Holocaust: Kofi Annan, whose origins are in Africa, asked how could such evil happen in the heart of Europe?

By Dr. Sarah Ozacky-Lazar, UNESCO Peace – Laureate.

Corresponding from Israel

ISRAEL - A unique ceremony took place in the UN headquarters in new York – a special session to commemorate the 60th year of the liberation of the most notoriously known death camp of WW2 – Auschwitz. I must admit that I myself often criticize the way the Holocaust is misused and manipulated by politicians for their own interests. But this time it was different. Watching the ceremony I felt that Mr. Annan and other speakers really wanted to convey the message of “No more”. No more racism and discrimination against groups of people based on their color. Religion, race or gender. No more mass murder without the world’s intervention.

The Secretary General, Kofi Annan, whose origins are in Africa, asked how could such evil happen in the heart of Europe, in a cultured and highly sophisticated nation, whose artists and thinkers had given the world so much. "All that is needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing," he said, quoting the 18th century English philosopher Edmund Burke. Anan and other speakers from different countries did not fail to mention more scenes of genocide which occurred since the end of that war – in Ruanda, Cambodia, former Yugoslavia and now Darfur, Sudan.

My late mother, a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania, used to say time and again – if only we could have had one small message from the outside world during the war; if only we knew that somone knows what’s going on; that our cry can be heard in the big world outside! This would have changed our feelings, she said. Because, on top of the daily horrors, the suffering, starvation and torture, the feeling of loneliness was unbearable. She used to tell us that as a young woman in the Ghetto she would sometimes look up and imagine a white piece of paper coming down from the sky with a few words of comfort.

In to-day’s world with the TV cameras everywhere, with media and reporters and the Internet – could Auschwitz repeat itself? Could a death industry work non-stop for 5 years and more without intervention? Could millions of human beings be shipped like cattle in trains all across Europe, their bodies transform to gas at the end of the journey, without anyone trying to stop it?

And an even more troubling question: Has Humanity learned the lessons of WW2? Has it succeeded to make the world a safer place for its residents on the verge of the 21st Century?

I am afraid there are no clear-cut answers to these questions. Human nature has not changed, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism are getting stronger in Europe, of all places. The media has not been able to stop the killing, on the contrary, sometimes it ignites violence when its cameras are present in conflict areas.

Only a few years ago Europe witnessed in its southern part an ethnic cleansing which caused huge death toll and damage, and had to deal with it by force. True, no one can say today “I did not know”, because everyone everywhere and all the time can get accurate information about the atrocities of the world. But the question is not if we know, but if we are willing to know, if we care, if we pay attention, if we are ready to fight back against the evil and the cruel.

The UN was born out of Second World War in order to maintain peace and stability around the world and prevent the possibility of another Holocaust. It is not always successful, as we all know, but this special session was one step forward, in my opinion.

The fact that 138 out of the 191 member states agreed to hold the event and attended was for me, as an Israeli, a daughter of Holocaust survivors and a peace activist in my country– an exciting triumph. It meant to me that the memory of the Holocaust (or Shoa in Hebrew) ceased to be a matter of the Jewish people only and became universal.

I must admit that I myself often criticize the way the Holocaust is misused and manipulated by politicians for their own interests. But this time it was different. Watching the ceremony I felt that Mr. Annan and other speakers really wanted to convey the message of “No more”. No more racism and discrimination against groups of people based on their color. Religion, race or gender. No more mass murder without the world’s intervention.

The Holocaust bears universal as well as personal lessons. It tells us that none of us in immune – either from being a victim, or no less frightening – from being a perpetrator. If it happened to the Germens, those highly educated and “civilized” people it can happen to any nation under certain conditions; if it happened to the Jews – any group of minorities or “different” can be the next victim.

The UN has fulfilled its task. It served as a global educator, it used its reputation, its stage and its access to the international media in order to reach millions of people around the world and tell them: look at the mirror! Beware of yourself! Contemplate, think, learn, dare not ignore and forget!

My only wish at that moment was, that my parents and hundreds of thousands of survivors who have passed away during these 60 long years since their liberation, could have watched it and experience this short hour of acknowledgment.