June 29th, 2009

Speech given by Noach Flug, president of the IAC

"Indifference destroys everything and everyone. We have experienced it."

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and as President of the International Auschwitz Committee, I speak on behalf the survivors of the German concentration camps. We remember our murdered families and the millions of victims who remain in the places of ashes. They are with us, always. We will never forget them.

The memorials tell the history of us all.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
On 25 January 2009, survivors and presidents from 10 international committees of former German concentration camps gathered together in Berlin to formulate a testament of the survivors. We have handed over this document, which is directed towards the future, to the German Federal President and other representatives of German politics, and to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic as President of the European Council. This document states that: “Today, the former camps are stony witnesses. They are scenes of the crimes, international cemeteries, museums and places of learning, especially for young people. They are evidence against the denial and the playing down of facts, and they must be preserved throughout time.”
Their conservation and their educational facilities are a powerful message from Germany and Europe in the fight against the poisonous clouds spread by right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism, against hatred and intolerance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Many young people ask us about our memories, pain and grief. Their interest in us represents a hope that the knowledge will live on into the future, the knowledge of what happened in Auschwitz, in Theresienstadt and the other concentration camps. Those who know what happened there will also understand what it means to live in a tolerant yet strong democracy that feels committed to universal human rights. This, above all, is the purpose of our witness accounts and our educational involvement.
Nevertheless, our deep concern and involvement are also dedicated to the survivors throughout the world. Many live in difficult social circumstances. And to this day the camps continue to claw at their memories, at their emotions and their dreams. Many of them are in need of support and medical assistance. They should not be forsaken in their old age.

For this reason we thank all the governments and organizations that are accompanying the survivors in both financial and human respects. We hope for their continuing support.
In our eyes this conference is a source of great support. We thank the Czech government and all those involved for their commitment, which encourages us. The topics of the conference give us strength in our work. We all affirm: injustice has no statutory period of limitation; stolen money must be refunded – for the sake of justice and the people.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
We hope, as survivors, that this conference will send out a signal summoning us to be “ever vigilant in our own time”, as the American President Barack Obama said a few weeks ago in Buchenwald. We must remain ever vigilant against discrimination, persecution and exclusion as they are being suffered today, for instance by Roma in many European societies.

Indifference destroys everything and everyone. We have experienced it.

I thank you.

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