Transcription
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chamber of Deputies
Friday, November 1, 2013
[The Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation]
The Argentine Chamber of Deputies opened its doors to the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace for the official presentation of the university forum series “Educating to Remember - The Holocaust: Paradigm of Genocide” in Argentina.
On November 1st, in the presence of representatives of different institutions whose objective is to raise awareness about the history of the Holocaust, preserve the memory of the survivors of this genocide and promote the defense of human rights, Dr. William Soto, Global Ambassador of Peace, explained the purpose of the educational work that has been carried out at an international level, and called for all institutions that work in this field to join efforts so that present and future generations learn the lessons that the Holocaust left for humanity, and so that a crime of this magnitude never happens again.
•••
— Honorable Congressman Omar Duclós—
“… The Holocaust, as symbol of so many systems of extermination that are a shame to humanity, and not only form a part of our history, but also form a part of the threats to our present. And yet, though it’s hard to believe, we have political regimes, some of them governmental leaders, who still haven’t condemned these exterminations. Therefore, those are our concerns and worries, and that is why, now more than ever, we must double our efforts to keep this memory alive, like I said before, as a preventive measure, and also to continue fighting for truth and justice.”
—Dr. Marisa Braylan, Director of the Centre for Social Studies of DAIA—
“Because the Shoah always reminds us, always enlightens us as to the capacity of destruction that man has; but we also have the capacity to organize these events, to leave other kinds of traces and other kinds of marks that warn, notify, and denounce oblivion, the issue of becoming accustomed to indifference and complicity.
I invite you all, and I invite myself, to have an exemplary memory every day. An exemplary memory is the kind of memory that can recover from an experience and from its suffering, in order to avoid future aggression...”
—Rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher, Executive Vice President of the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer—
“For that reason, projects like Traces to Remember–and I think this project is even more important: Educating to Remember–are essential, because education is the base of the development of our societies, well, of ourselves as people and of our societies. When we educate each one of us first, then our immediate environment, and then we expand this environment, about all the evil there is in the world and about all the good there is within each of these individuals, we can be sure that these types of terrible tragedies will never occur again.”
—Dr. William Soto, Ambassador of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace—
“Hitler cruelly made an attempt on the integral existence of the Jewish people. By undermining their faith, depriving them of the practice of their religion, burning synagogues, killing rabbis, discrediting their God. He made an attempt on their souls.
By not allowing them to express their identity, denying them the right to an education and the practice of their professions, by eliminating their dreams as human beings and their freedom of expression, by replacing their names with a number, he dehumanized them and animalized them. This is how Hitler killed the spirit of the Jewish people.
By locking them in ghettos, and later into concentration camps, by forcibly expelling them and subjecting them to precarious living conditions and forced labor, as well as executing and gassing them, he made an attempt on their bodies.
For this reason, I repeat, by perpetrating the Holocaust, Hitler and his empire attacked the moral and physical integrity of the Jewish people. First, they made an attempt on their souls and killed their spirit, before extinguishing a third of the Jewish people.”
•••
The commemorative plaques of Holocaust Survivors Salomon Kaplan and Francisco Witcher were presented as part of the project Traces to Remember.
—Francisco Witcher, Holocaust Survivor —
“Well, every survivor has his story and his tragedy. As a survivor of the famous Argentine Schindler’s List, and the only surviving witness, it is my duty to live and fulfill my family’s last wishes, to live life and fulfill this legacy.”
•••
Argentina is home to a great number of Holocaust survivors who found in this nation an opportunity to rebuild their lives and start a family.
Media Director: Gabriela Lara
Director of Photography: Pierre Agustí
Cameramen: Miguel Tillería, William Rodríguez, Pablo Rodríguez, Efraín Tillería
Editors: Miguel Tillería, Noel Motta, Pierre Agustí