Prime Minister: Holocaust is not only tragedy of Jewish people but a colossal disaster that has impoverished and robbed humanity as a whole
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has taken part in Holocaust remembrance events in Gargždai: the first march of the Memory Road 1941-2021 and the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania.
According to the Prime Minister, the Memory Road is a road of sadness, and the tragedy of the Holocaust is a very painful realisation that hatred towards the other - someone different from ourselves - can become like a volcanic lava sweeping away and incinerating everything in its path.
‘Holocaust is not only a tragedy of the Jewish people but a colossal disaster that has impoverished and robbed the humanity as a whole. The Holocaust statistics is not just figures - it is people who dreamed, loved and were loved, worked and created and had their mission in life. This is not just a grey memorial pebble. The one I am holding has a name on it of Sarah Zusmanovich. They are numerous, these memorial pebbles with the names of the people who used to live here. History teaches us that hatred takes time to build, it is not a one-day process. Occasional flares of anger, which may at first seem insignificant or even laughable, gradually lead to distancing, until this element grows out of proportions, becomes an intimidating, cruel power, which eventually becomes unstoppable. This is why it is crucial to pinpoint even the smallest sprouts of hatred or cruelty, and instead of turning a blind eye to it, to continue in the resolve to resist the erosion of humanity. Each of us has responsibility to make sure that what happened here 80 years ago would never reoccur. We remember and must do everything we can to prevent it from happening again’, said Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė.
The Prime Minister has thanked all the staff of the Tolerance Centres for their efforts in bringing more compassion and understanding and helping to banish hatred for good and all, also to the organisers of the events commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.
Ingrida Šimonytė has called on everyone to walk the Memory Road and invite others to join them, in the hope that the concerted intolerance to hatred will prevent such tragedies in the future.
The full text of Prime Minister Šimonytė’s address to mark the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania is available here.