Universal antibiotic

The international forum Let My People Live, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy opened late last week. The presidents of Ukraine, Israel, Croatia, Montenegro, the heads of the Azerbaijani parliament and Federation Council of Russia, and Poland’s former president Alexander Kwasniewski participated in the forum’s work. Approximately 1,000 people were invited to the forum, among them representatives of international, political, civic, and religious organizations, in particular prominent politicians, eyewitnesses of the tragedy, relatives of victims, and former ghetto prisoners.

President Yushchenko condemned the culprits and organizers of the Holocaust and gave his assurances that the Ukrainian nation “which has borne so many losses, will never be governed by hatred of others... I affirm clearly and definitely that there will never be room in Ukraine for inter-national intolerance and religious hostility. Together with all Ukrainians I sharply and categorically reject and do not countenance even the smallest manifestation of xenophobia and anti-Semitism,” Interfax quotes the Ukrainian president as saying. Appealing to his colleagues from Israel, Croatia and Montenegro, the Ukrainian president affirmed that he shares in the feelings of general mourning.

On his part, Israel’s President Moshe Katsav declared at the forum that forgiveness of the accomplices to Holocaust crimes is impossible. “None of those who intended, planned, and committed these murders can be forgiven, there’s no forgiveness for those Ukraine’s citizens who helped to kill, and themselves killed,” the Israeli president said. He added that Jews throughout the world glorify the thousands of Ukrainians who risked their lives to rescue the Jews of Kyiv in the time of the Babyn Yar tragedy, and he stressed the importance of the international forum Let my people live!

“We have come here to honor memory and to bow down,” said the Israeli president, adding that the next generations must learn the right lessons from this action. Katsav says he is troubled by the fact that 65 years after the catastrophe “anti-Semitism is again raising its head.” In his opinion, the key to resolving the problem lies in the hands of historians, who should research the catastrophe and tell people about it. The representatives of the world Jewish community praise the efforts made by Ukraine and the Ukrainian president so that the tragedy of Babyn Yar is not forgotten. The president of the Russian Jewish Congress and the World Holocaust Forum Foundation Vyacheslav Kantor considers such forums to be a “universal antibiotic against hatred of so-called strangers. And such pasteurization should be carried out as soon as possible”.

Kantor announced that the World Holocaust Forum presented Viktor Yushchenko and Alexander Kwasniewski with a memorial medal called Vigilance. The medal is made of 12 pieces of soap used in Auschwitz and mounted by one of the best Israeli jewelers. The medal symbolizes the 12 Jewish tribes.