The memory of the victims of the Holocaust should be a permanent moral compass, said Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić, stating that in a time of new conflicts and intolerance, it is important to preserve humanity and compassion for all peoples of the world.
Mandić said in the Parliament, where the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was marked, that they had gathered today to remember the millions of innocent victims of the Holocaust, the darkest and most shameful chapter in the history of humanity.
"This is not a day of politics or division, but a day of human conscience, memory and a moral obligation that the truth never be forgotten," said Mandić.
He recalled that on this day 81 years ago, the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated, a symbol of the Nazi extermination system in which, according to data, about 1,1 million people were killed, including about a million Jews.
"Auschwitz was not just a camp, but a symbol of a perverted ideology in which human life was reduced to a number and dignity turned to ashes," said Mandić, adding that Nazi ideology led to the murder of six million Jews, as well as millions of members of other peoples and communities who were declared undesirable and condemned to extermination.
He also recalled other places of mass crimes in Europe, such as Treblinka, Majdanek and Sobibor, emphasizing that around 870 people were killed in Treblinka alone.
Speaking about the suffering in the former Yugoslavia, Mandić recalled Jasenovac and other camps where, as he said, Serbs, Jews, and Roma all shared the fate of persecution and extermination.
He pointed out that in the Independent State of Croatia, "a policy of extermination was implemented that often surpassed even Nazi models in brutality."
"One of the most terrible truths of that time is that the executioners were often yesterday's neighbors," said Mandić.
He said that the Montenegrin parliament, by adopting a resolution condemning the genocide in the Jasenovac, Mauthausen and Dachau concentration camps, had made a "civilizational leap forward and placed itself on the right side of history."
"It is our duty to speak, remember and pass on the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, not out of revenge, but out of responsibility," Mandić emphasized.
He said that Montenegro and Israel, as well as the Serbian and Jewish people, should build a common future today.
"I am glad that today we are demonstrating and confirming that we have not disappeared, that we have not been destroyed and that we have the opportunity, despite the ideologies of darkness, evil and the past, for Montenegro and Israel, and certainly the Serbian and Jewish people, to build a new and brighter common future," said Mandić.
According to him, in an era of new conflicts, intolerance and strife, it is important to preserve peace, stability, humanity and compassion for all peoples in the world.
"Our common obligation is that the ideas that led to the greatest crime in the history of humanity never return in any form," said Mandić, adding that the Parliament of Montenegro will always be "on the front lines of the fight against such phenomena."
Mandić thanked the Jewish community in Montenegro and its representatives, who, as he stated, have always been an integral part of Montenegrin society throughout history, emphasizing that Montenegro is "strongest when it preserves its diversity, builds dialogue and chooses the path of reconciliation."
"Let us unite around what we have in common – humanity, compassion and truth. Let us reject hatred, because history teaches us that it easily corrupts human hearts and leads society into the abyss. Let the memory of the victims of the Holocaust be our permanent moral compass," concluded Mandić.
The President of the Jewish Community in Montenegro and Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, Nina Ofner Bokan, said that the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers, but with words, labeling and the silence of society in the face of hatred.
She emphasized that the Holocaust particularly brutally affected the youngest, recalling that among the six million murdered Jews, there were about one and a half million children.
"The Holocaust robbed children of their childhood, and for many, the opportunity to grow up, to go to school, to play and dream about the future," said Ofner Bokan, adding that the surviving children were "scattered" across Europe - found in liberated camps, monasteries, other people's homes or wandering alone in the streets and forests.
She said that the childhoods of these children were marked by hiding, hunger and fear, as well as the loss of parents, home, identity, religion and language, stating that many children were forced to remain silent and suppress their feelings in order to survive.
Ofner Bokan pointed out that the Holocaust was not just a tragedy of the Jewish people, but a civilizational collapse of an entire society.
"Jewish communities that had built cities, developed trade, culture and knowledge for centuries were almost completely destroyed," said Ofner Bokan, recalling that in addition to Jews, Serbs, Roma, anti-fascists, political opponents and members of other ethnic and religious communities were systematically persecuted and killed.
She said that the Holocaust began when someone said: "It's none of our business."
"It started with dehumanization, conspiracy theories, institutions that were silent, and leaders who did not have the courage to stand up to hatred as it became socially acceptable," Ofner Bokan stated.
That is why, as she emphasized, the memory of the Holocaust is at the same time a warning that anti-Semitism never comes alone, but is always a sign that Europe is moving away from its own humanity.
Ofner Bokan thanked Mandić for, as she said, her expressed sensitivity towards the Jewish community and the clear message that Montenegro and its parliament stand with the Jewish people in difficult times.
"We are grateful that our country and its parliament, in these challenging times, clearly confirm that we are not alone, but that we have sincere friends and reliable allies," said Ofner Bokan.
After their speeches, Mandić and Ofner Bokan symbolically lit six candles in memory of the six million victims.
The event was attended by MPs, representatives of the diplomatic corps and friends of the Jewish community.
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