5 February 2009
Press release

"Human gesture towards the victims"

The survivors of the Holocaust in the International Auschwitz Committee thank Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel for her decisive remarks concerning the debates surrounding the Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson. We also see her statement as a positive human gesture towards the victims. Indeed, the fact that this gesture was made on German soil and uttered by a German federal chancellor lends it great symbolic value in our eyes.

Nevertheless, the outrage and dismay at these denials is not restricted to Germany alone. The damage that has already been done is unimaginable: throughout the world anti-Semites and right-wing extremists have perceived the bishop’s words as additional inspiration for their hatred towards other people and their aggressive contempt for democracy.

We, the survivors of the concentration camps, accompanied the visit of Pope Benedict to Auschwitz in May 2006 with great appreciation and hope. The gesture made by our friend and comrade Henryk Mandelbaum was an expression of this. As one of the few Jewish survivors of the crematorium Sonderkommando he spontaneously embraced Pope Benedict at their meeting in the Main Camp when they faced the Death Wall of Block 11 together.

Now we hope again: the clear dissociation initiated through words has to be followed by equally clear actions. There should be no place at the table of the Catholic Church for a self-confessed Holocaust denier.

For further enquiries: Christoph Heubner, Vice President of the IAC, 0172 393 22 62

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