John Culatto
RACISM and discrimination must be condemned, said a Gibraltar Government minister on the anniversary of the Holocaust.
Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento delivered her message of tolerance on International Holocaust Memorial Day in the absence of the usual ceremony.
Today’s date mark the moment Allied forces freed the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland in 1945.
“Normally every January 27, HM Government of Gibraltar, together with senior dignitaries and a cross section of the community, stand together at Commonwealth Park, united against anti-semitism and discrimination,” said Sacramento.
“This year, though we cannot stand together in person, I ask Gibraltarians to unite in spirit and remember the atrocities done to millions of innocent people during the Second World War.”
A recording of Holocaust survivor Arek Hersh called ‘Learning from Auschwitz’ is now available on the Gibraltar Government video page.
It was recorded by Hersh on a visit to Gibraltar in 2017 organised by the Ministry of Equality.
The video has been shared with Bayside, Westside and the Gibraltar College for the benefit of the oldest students to learn from.
Never again
“If we do not acknowledge and condemn what was done in the past, we are bound to repeat the same mistakes in the future,” said Sacramento.
“We have seen this happen in other parts of the world since 1945, which is why it is so important to continue to discuss the causes of genocide.
“Hearing first hand accounts from Mr. Arek Hersh, or from other sources is the best way to understand the causes and effects of genocide.
“We organised the recording of Mr. Hersh’s experience so that future generations will not forget the harrowing experience of the Holocaust.”
There is a relatively large Jewish community on the Rock which forms part of the fabric of society.
The memorial comes at a time when Gibraltar grieves many deaths from COVID-19, a far cry from the millions murdered by the Nazis in just six years.
