Embassy of Germany in Colombia

"Those who forget their past will not be able to face their future," with those words Jurgen Christian Mertens, ambassador of Germany in Colombia, received a commemorative plaque in honor of Holocaust survivors "Traces to Remember," plaque that after being exposed at the Polish embassy, will passes to the German one, where it will remain displayed for a month.  

This act was supported by Sigmund Halstuch and Jacobo Brod, survivors of the Holocaust, the ambassador of Guatemala, Carlos Santiago Morales, Ivan Sarmiento, Coordinator of Colombia for the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace, Marcos Peckel, Executive Director of the Confederation of Jewish Communities in Colombia, diplomatic personalities, and members of the Jewish community in Bogotá.

The ambassador of Germany emphasized that his country has committed to always remember this atrocious crime and it constitutes a moral obligation in honor to its survivors. His exposition ended with a phrase that filled the audience with emotion. 

"To receive the plaque in honor of the survivors of the Holocaust today in this embassy is a privilege and at the same time a very important challenge, to continue working together with all of you, so that atrocious crimes such as these never again repeat themselves in the history of humanity, so that there is never again an attempt at genocide, and finally, so that there will be peace in the Middle East."

The Poland ambassador, S.E. Jacek Perlin, considered the Shoa as a national tragedy for his country: 

"Our obligation, our moral duty, is to care for what remains, care for the memories, to do everything so that those horrific events never repeat again." 

The event was finalized with the signing of the document of delivery of the commemorative plaque by the ambassadors of Germany and Poland.