International Holocaust Remembrance Day – an important reminder

Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we commemorate the victims of the most horrific and extensive genocide the world has ever seen.

The mass murder of Jews and other groups who did not fit into the Nazi understanding of humanity or society will always be an indelible stain in the history books of Europe.

Today we remember the many who were persecuted, deported and exterminated. We remember the more than 700 Norwegian Jews who were killed, we remember the Romani people, the disabled, the mentally ill, and all the others who fell victim to the regime’s cruelty.

Sixty-six years ago – in the autumn and winter of 1942/43 – Norwegian Jews were brutally stowed onto ships at the quayside in Oslo and transported out of the country. Only a few returned. This took place during the German occupation, but Norwegians carried out the arrests.

Genocide – as a concept and as a system – originated in the minds of men. The Holocaust was not a natural disaster; it was a man-made disaster.

The story of the Holocaust – or Shoah in Hebrew – tells of the horrendous consequences of anti-Semitism in our recent past. Today we are reminded that many were guilty and that we all have a responsibility. That we all have a duty to prevent anti-Semitism from ever regaining a foothold – either here or in any other country.

Foreign Minister Støre attended the Sabbath service at the synagogue in Oslo on 17 January 2009. (Photo: Scanpix)

The ideas that led to the Holocaust have not disappeared. They find expression in new ways and in new places. They must be fought through awareness-raising, knowledge, information and firm resistance.

In March this year, Norway will take over the chair of the 26-country-strong Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. We take this task very seriously and with great humility, and with a keen awareness of the challenges ahead.

The fight is not over. Society must maintain focus on these issues and encourage debate. We must be wary of attitudes and actions that can breed renewed anti-Semitism or other ideologies and mindsets that exclude or segregate groups of people and spread hatred and intolerance.

Religious and other groups in our own society feel stigmatised, insecure and afraid. We must combat this development both as a society and as individuals.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day – 27 January – serves an important reminder to us all.