Moldovan foreign minister conveys message on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Chisinau, 27 Jan. /MOLDPRES/- Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration conveyed a message on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the MAEIE press service has reported.

The message reads:

"With deep symbolism, today reminds us of one of the darkest pages of European history, which remains a deep wound for all humanity. 78 years after the Holocaust, the international community - and we, here in the Republic of Moldova - keep alive the memory of the victims of that unparalleled cataclysm in the history of humanity. All our compassion goes out to the innocent victims, to the survivors of this horrible crime against humanity and to their descendants and relatives.

At the beginning of this month we recorded with sadness the passing away of Mr. Iosif Belous, former head of the Association of ex-prisoners of Nazism. Our moral responsibility is to educate society in the spirit of human values, fundamental human rights and freedoms, tolerance and non-discrimination and combating anti-Semitism and any other forms of xenophobia. Cultivating the memory of the Holocaust as well as the memory of all victims of totalitarian regimes is a duty of democratic societies.

During the last 8 years, our country has significantly advanced in terms of education, research and commemoration of the Holocaust. Our commitment has been demonstrated through the adoption of clear policy documents, taking the form of sequential action plans on promoting the memory of the Holocaust and the culture of tolerance in order to combat racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.

We have achieved concrete results on education, historical research and strengthening of the domestic legal framework, and we participate as an observer state in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, our country being among the first states to adopt the working definition of anti-Semitism, and in the Malmo International Forum - along with all the other participating states - we made concrete commitments in this regard.

Today, paying tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, I want to emphasize that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration will continue to promote, through the tools available to diplomacy, the strengthening of the framework for action at the national and international level in order to prevent and sanction anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination on any criterion.

In the context of Holocaust Remembrance Day, MAEIE joins #WeRemember campaign that takes place during the International Holocaust Remembrance Week, thus promoting the importance and awareness of education about everything the Holocaust meant", Popescu said.

Photo: MAEIE