Transcription
March 4, 2014
Traces to Remember is a project of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace. It has been carried out in many countries, and many educational, diplomatic and government entities, fulfilling various objectives, among them:
To keep alive the testimony of Holocaust survivors.
To make known the universal lessons of this dark stage that divided the human history into a before and after.
• • •
On Monday, March 3, 2014, the commemorative plaque of Holocaust survivor Peter Katz was presented at the German Embassy in Mexico. The event was attended by the ambassadors of Israel, France, Poland, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, as well as Dr. William Soto of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace.
- Gabriela Lara, Director of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace -
“As an institution, we believe that to this day the Holocaust has mistakenly been considered a crime only against the Jewish people. We believe that the Holocaust was in fact a crime against humanity, and as a primary objective of our institution, we desire to convey these universal lessons so that a genocide never happens again in any part of the world.”
- Dr. Edmund Duckwitz, Ambassador of Germany to Mexico -
“We, the Germans, are responsible for certain events in particular. We take on that responsibility and face the challenge of conveying the horrors of the Shoah and the lessons derived from it.
And keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust is a task that we can only undertake together.
I would like to thank the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace for addressing this challenge here in Mexico, and in the entire world. A year ago, when Dr. Soto asked me to display, for an indefinite amount of time, a plaque in remembrance of the Holocaust here at the German Embassy in Mexico, I immediately agreed. For me, as a German ambassador, supporting the project Traces to Remember comes naturally.”
- Peter Katz, Holocaust survivor -
“I think this kind of event is very important because there are still people who are not aware of what happened during the Holocaust.
It surprises some of us survivors that today, 70 years after the events that took place in Europe during World War II, there is still interest in the Holocaust. Not only is there still interest, but now more so than before, and I believe this is comforting. We don’t want people to study things that humanity may not feel proud of, on the contrary; however, it is necessary. The more people become aware of it, the more people there will be to help prevent it from happening again.”
- Dr. William Soto. Global Ambassador of the Embassy of Activists for Peace -
“At the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace, we believe that official acts must be implemented along with educational activities and policy decisions in favor of respect for human dignity.
Commemorative events are important when those who participate in them do so conscious of the fact that these activities achieve the purpose of conveying certain principles and values necessary for the construction of a world of peace, with justice, freedom and equality.
Events in commemoration of the Shoah, and all academic gatherings carried out to reflect upon the acts of irrationality, violence, and the consequences of barbarity, must be more than merely a nation’s protocol events: they must result in policy decisions that develop into laws which prevent any form of discrimination, and reject Holocaust denial. They must result in the implementation of educational activities promoted by governments and implemented by the educational institutions of each country, because it is through education that mentalities are changed and ethical principles and values are sown, which teach individuals about the importance of respecting human rights and, above all, human dignity.”
• • •
The commemorative plaque will be displayed for one month at this Embassy, which represents a country closely tied to the Holocaust, thus making this an important opportunity for people to learn from historical witnesses about these events that shook the world.
Media Director: Gabriela Lara
Director of Photography: Pierre Agusti
Cameramen: Gerson Rangel, Miguel Rangel, Isaias Rodriguez
Editors: Abner Gonzalez, Pierre Agustí