Poland in South Africa

There are no words to describe the immensity of cruelty that was the Holocaust. The symbol of extermination became the German Nazi camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, which in almost 5 years of its existence claimed about 1.1 million victims out of a total of 1.3 million prisoners. About 90% of them were Jews coming from all over Europe. At least 70 thousand Poles, 20 thousand Roma, 15 thousand Soviet captives and 10-15 thousand prisoners of other nationalities also died in the camp. The total number of Holocaust victims is estimated at nearly 6 million, a third of whom were children.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Johannesburg were attended by Tali Nates, Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Masimba Tafirenyika, Director of the UNIC Pretoria, Andreas Peschke, German Ambassador to South Africa, Eli Belotsercovsky, Israeli Ambassador to South Africa, and Dr. Astrid Ley, Deputy Director of the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum. All the speakers emphasized the importance of memory and its significance for the future. They also expressed concern that in the current world, full of pressing problems, growing violence and aggression emerging anti-Semitic and racist slogans, and hate speech, humanity is less and less absorbed by the Holocaust. There are serious concerns that time and ignorance may erase the traces of the enormity of the lives lost, the unimaginable suffering and cruelty of World War II. It seems that the world has not learned a lesson from the Holocaust. We are now witnessing growing passiveness and indifference, just as during World War II, when the countries of the free world reacted passively to the crimes of the Holocaust. In his speech Eli Belotsercovsky, Israeli Ambassador to South Africa, mentioned the figure of the Polish hero Jan Karski, who offered to give an eyewitness account of the extermination of Polish Jews to the free world. Karski twice made his way to the Warsaw ghetto and then to a transit camp in Izbica Lubelska. He prepared detailed written reports for the London government of the Polish Republic in exile. He also reported to the British Foreign Ministry Anthony Eden. Karski’s superiors then sent him to Washington, where he held an hour-long meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He pledged with both leaders to stop the Holocaust. Unfortunately, his message was met with indifference. The world looked at this horrific crime and remained silent. In his speech Ambassador Belotsercovsky condemned the heartless pragmatism of nations, organizations and states.

Participants of the event in Johannesburg included witnesses of the Holocaust, representatives of Jewish organisations and communities, international organisations, diplomatic representations, including the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria, the media, and South African citizens.

January 27 – on that day the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution on 1 November 2005 to commemorate the tragedy of 6 million Jews murdered during the Second World War by the German Nazi regime. The UN calls for this time to be a warning to all people against hatred, racism and prejudice. The main event commemorating the Holocaust Remembrance Day every year takes place the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial on January 27, since on that day the concentration camp was liberated by Red Army soldiers in 1945. Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the many German concentration and death camps set up during WWII on occupied Polish lands. It’s the most recognizable symbol and place of genocide in the world. State Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau was set up on its former prisoners' initiative. It has been operating uninterruptedly since 1947.