From the keynote address at the Holocaust commemoration in the historic Salle des Assemblées of the European Headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva.
Whenever I speak on the Holocaust I do so with a certain degree of humility, and not without a deep sense of pain.
For I am reminded of what my parents taught me while still a young boy – the profundity and pain of which I realized only years later – that there are things in Jewish history that are too terrible to be believed, but not too terrible to have happened; that Oswiencim, Majdanek, Dachau, Treblinka – these are beyond vocabulary. Words may ease the pain, but they may also dwarf the tragedy. For the Holocaust was uniquely evil in its genocidal singularity, where biology was inescapably destiny, a war against the Jews in which, as Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Elie Wiesel put it, "not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims".
Lesson 1: The Importance of Holocaust Remembrance
The first lesson is the importance of Zachor, of remembrance itself. For as we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah – defamed, demonized and dehumanized, as prologue or justification for genocide – we have to understand that the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of non-Jews is not a matter of abstract statistics.
For unto each person there is a name – unto each person, there is an identity. Each person is a universe. As our sages tell us: "whoever saves a single life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire universe." Just as whoever has killed a single person, it is as if they have killed an entire universe. And so the abiding imperative – that we are each, wherever we are, the guarantors of each other's destiny.
Lesson 2: The Danger of State-Sanctioned Incitement to Hatred and Genocide – The Responsibility to Prevent
The enduring lesson of the Holocaust is that the genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the industry of death and the technology of terror, but because of the state-sanctioned ideology of hate. This teaching of contempt, this demonizing of the other, this is where it all began. As the Canadian courts affirmed in upholding the constitutionality of anti-hate legislation, "the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers – it began with words". These, as the Courts put it, are the chilling facts of history. These are the catastrophic effects of racism.
We are witnessing a state-sanctioned incitement to genocide in Ahmadinejad's Iran.
Forty years later, in the Nineties, these lessons not only remained unlearned, but the tragedy was repeated. For we witnessed, yet again, a growing trafficking in state-sanctioned hate and incitement, which in the Balkans and in Rwanda took us down the road to genocide.
And as we meet, we are witnessing yet again, a state-sanctioned incitement to hate and genocide, whose epicenter is Ahmadinejad's Iran – and I distinguish President Ahmadinejad from the people of Iran, many of whom have themselves repudiated his remarks. For President Ahmadinejad denies the Nazi Holocaust as he incites to a Middle Eastern one – an assault on Jewish memory and truth in its denial of the Holocaust, which the U.N. General Assembly rebuked several days ago; and a violation of the prohibition against the "direct and public incitement to genocide" in the Genocide Convention, which U.N. Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon respectively called "shocking" and "unacceptable", indeed, an assault on the very U.N. charter, which prohibits such incitement and threat.
Lesson 3: The Danger of Silence, the Consequences of Indifference – The Duty to Protect
The genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the state-sanctioned culture of hate and industry of death, but because of crimes of indifference, because of conspiracies of silence.
We meet today in the majestic Salle des Assemblées of the former League of Nations. It was here that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie pleaded in vain for protection from Mussolini's 1935 aggression. Fascism marched ahead, winning one victory after another. It was here that while the gathering storm of war advanced, with Czechoslovakia surrendering to Hitler in 1938, further appeals for protection went unheeded. The response was international indifference, a failure of moral resolve, and the result was world war and genocide.
We are assembled here on the banks of Lake Geneva, on the other side of which lies Evian-des-Bains. It was here in 1938 that the international community considered the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees desperate to flee worsening persecutions in Nazi Germany and Austria. But the nations looked away. As it was said at the time, the world was divided into those places where the Jews could not live, and those places where they could not enter. Hitler drew his lessons.
As we gather here today to commemorate the Holocaust in this historic Assembly Hall, with the representatives of the international community and civil society, let us pledge that never again will we be indifferent to aggression, hatred and incitement.
And indeed we have witnessed an appalling indifference and inaction in our own day which took us down the road to the unthinkable – ethnic cleansing in the Balkans – and down the road to the unspeakable – the genocide in Rwanda – unspeakable because this genocide was preventable. No one can say that we did not know. We knew, but we did not act, just as we know and have yet to act to stop the genocide by attrition in Darfur, ignoring the lessons of history, betraying the people of Darfur, and mocking the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.
In our world, few people are prepared to take a stand, let alone be counted.
And so, it is our responsibility to break down these walls of indifference, to shatter these conspiracies of silence and inaction – to stand up and be counted and not look around to see whoever else is standing before we make a judgment to do so; because in the world in which we live, there are few enough people prepared to stand, let alone be counted, reminding us of the words of Edmund Burke, "the surest way to ensure that evil will triumph in the world is for enough good people to do nothing".
Indifference and inaction always mean coming down on the side of the victimizer, never on the side of the victim. Let there be no mistake about it – indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself – it is complicity with evil.
Lesson 4: Combating Mass Atrocity and the Culture of Impunity – The Responsibility to Bring War Criminals to Justice
If the 20th Century – symbolized by the Holocaust – was the age of atrocity, it was also the age of impunity. Few of the perpetrators were brought to justice; and so, just as there must be no sanctuary for hate, no refuge for bigotry, there must there be no base or sanctuary for these enemies of humankind. In this context, the establishment of the International Criminal Court must be seen as the most dramatic development in international criminal law since Nuremberg – to deter mass atrocity, to protect the victims, and to prosecute the perpetrators.
Lesson 5: The Responsibility to Talk Truth to Power
The Holocaust was made possible, not only because of the "bureaucratization of genocide", as Robert Lifton put it, but because of the trahison des clercs – the complicity of the elites – physicians, church leaders, judges, lawyers, engineers, architects, educators, and the like. Indeed, one only has to read Gerhard Muller's book on "Hitler's Justice" to appreciate the complicity and criminality of judges and lawyers; or to read Robert-Jan van Pelt's book on the architecture of Auschwitz, to be appalled by the minute involvement of engineers and architects in the design of death camps, and so on. Holocaust crimes, then, were also the crimes of the Nuremberg elites. As Elie Wiesel put it, "Cold-blooded murder and culture did not exclude each other. If the Holocaust proved anything, it is that a person can both love poems and kill children".
And so it is our responsibility to speak truth to power, and to hold power accountable to truth. And those entrusted with the education and training of the elites should ensure that Elie Wiesel is studied in schools of law and not just in classes of literature; that the double entendre of Nuremberg – of Nuremberg racism as well as the Nuremberg Principles – is part of our learning as it is part of our legacy; that Holocaust education underpin our perspective as it informs our principles – on justice and injustice.
Lesson 6: The Vulnerability of the Powerless – The Protection of the Vulnerable as the Test of a Just Society
The genocide of European Jewry occurred not only because of the vulnerability of the powerless, but also because of the powerlessness of the vulnerable. It is not surprising that the triage of Nazi racial hygiene – the Sterilization Laws, the Nuremberg Race Laws, the Euthanasia Program – targeted those "whose lives were not worth living"; and it is not unrevealing, as Professor Henry Friedlander points out in his work on "The Origins of Genocide", that the first group targeted for killing were the Jewish disabled – the whole anchored in the science of death, the medicalization of ethnic cleansing, the sanitizing even of the vocabulary of destruction.
And so it is our responsibility as government representatives – and, morally, as citizens of the world – to give voice to the voiceless, as we seek to empower the powerless – be they the disabled, the poor, the refugee, the elderly, the women victims of violence, the vulnerable child – the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.
Indeed, perhaps the most important human rights lesson I learned was taught to me by my daughter, now 27, when she was 15 years of age, when she said: "Daddy, if you want to know the real test of human rights, always ask yourself, at any time, in any situation, in any part of the world, 'is it good for children? Is what is happening good for children?' That's the real test of human rights, Daddy."
Conclusion
May I close with a word to the survivors of the Holocaust – for you are the true heroes of humanity. You witnessed and endured the worst of inhumanity, but somehow you found in the depths of your own humanity the courage to go on, to rebuild your lives as you have built your communities. And so it is with you, and because of you, and because of the righteous among the nations – like Raoul Wallenberg – that we remember that each person has a name and an identity – that each person is a universe – that in saving one life we save an entire universe.
We remember – and we pledge – and this must not be a matter of rhetoric but must be a commitment to action – that never again will we be indifferent to incitement and hate; that never again will we be silent in the face of evil; that never again will we indulge racism and anti-Semitism; that never again will we ignore the plight of the vulnerable; that never again will we be indifferent in the face of mass atrocity and impunity.
We will speak and we will act against racism, against hate, against anti-Semitism, against mass atrocity, against injustice – and against the crime of crimes whose name we should even shudder to mention – genocide.
And yes, always, against indifference, against being bystanders to injustice. For in what we say, or more importantly in what we do, we will be making a statement about ourselves as a people, we will be making a statement about ourselves as people. For in our day, more than ever, whoever remains indifferent indicts themselves.
May this day be not only an act of remembrance, which it is, but let it be a remembrance to act, which it must be.
(28) Ted Gamin, April 6, 2009 5:18 PM
2 Even More Crucial Lessons Missed
Prof. Cotler, you forget the basis of what happened: (1) never view government or a leader as your ultimate hope (in light of the recent U.S. elections, this is doubly pertinent) & (2) ideas have consequences, indeed, long-range consequences: the witches' brew called "Higher Criticism," spawned in mid-19th century Germany by "scholars," this formed the foundation for the 12-year whirlwind almost a century later.
(27) Just Another Guy, December 13, 2008 7:15 PM
Getting Ready for College
I'm doing the "Holocaust Remembrance Project" scholarship for college, and it's been a powerful experience. It's hard to believe we could murder 17 million people for being human, but it must never be forgotten. I know how pitiful comforting words of mine may be being just one person, but we should remember that Hitler was also just one person. Never forget you can make a difference.
(26) prabakaran, November 9, 2008 8:20 AM
On this 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht I have come to know more of the Holocaust and I am ashamed of being a human being: that man the most intelligent of god's creation could have inflicted such cruelty on his fellow beings for reasons which none will understand.
(25) Anonymous, June 26, 2007 10:09 AM
A very important contribution.
The pain when I think about it is not possible to express in words.
However we, as a people, must always think clearly about why such a thing happened.
Shalom
(24) Mihajlo Gligoric, May 21, 2007 2:16 PM
IT WAS STRONG, ACCURATE, AND UNFORGETABLE
I'm not a Jew, and i'm relatively young,but I'm well informed about holocaust's evil, and its proportions.
I' feel strong respect towards efforts
Jews have been investing not to forget
holocaust.Something like that mustn't be forgotten, especially in the light of today's circumstances when Iran, as well as other arabic nations have been showing clear desire to destroy Israel and Jews.
For the conclusion-I' mean that Jews have suffered worst throughout their history comparing with all other people
worldvide.Everyone who ignore it is an enemy, and should be treated like an enemy.
(23) Anny Matar, April 21, 2007 11:31 AM
I'M IN FULL AGREEMENT AND IDENTIFY
As a Halocaust survivor I certainly agree to fight against wrongdoings wherever I meet it, but, unless the next generation will be reminded and will remember it will be forgotten. Even the "POST ZIONISTS" contribute to this because, as they claim, our right to Israel is based on the Holocaust and if this becomes "trendy" we have lost what we have tried, for 59 years, to build here.WE HAVE A HISTORICAL RIGHT TO THIS COUNTRY,WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE"and we shall overcome all those who claim that by destroyng us they will solve all Middle east problem.
But on the other hand we won't accuse Turkey for the murder of the Armenians (their holocaust) for political reasons. NOW where is the thin borderline between right and wrong?? What is more important in our lives politics or justice?? I'm for the latter any time because I claim it for myself.
(22) David Holmes, April 15, 2007 8:18 AM
How do I Prosecute President Ahmadinejad?
How can I prosecute Ahmadinejad for his crime of inciting genocide?
What is the first step, and where do I begin to lay charges against this tyrant?
I too firmly believe that indifference is a crime.
George Bernard Shaw is another who echoed these words, "The greatest act of inhumanity against man Is indifference to your fellow human beings."
Please tell me to whom I should contact in order to bring this man to justice and prevent that which can be prevented?
I cannot bear to suffer in silence.
Kind Regards
David Holmes
519 962 8811
I have attached a copy of an article I recently had published in the Windsor Post.
Don't let history repeat itself
Letter
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007
Re: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. If this guy is not the worst kind of human being on Earth, then who is? Is a terrorist not a person who terrorizes ordinary people? He sure terrorizes every Jew in Israel and every right-thinking individual who does not wish to see history repeat itself.
Crimes against humanity and inciting genocide are obviously not on the list of exclusions to getting a U.S. visa. It is OK to openly incite violence and advocate the extermination of Israel and every Jew in the world and still go to the U.S. and also get an invite to the body that supposedly protects us from such tyrants and despots.
Has the world gone mad? Just try standing on a New York corner saying, "Death to all Jews" and see how long you last. Burn a couple of American and Israeli flags too.
Does Ahmadinejad believe that Holocaust survivors got together and attended tattoo shops to get numbered? Does he still believe it was all a hoax?
Indifference is a crime, sitting by watching is a crime, inaction is a crime and inviting the criminal to dinner is not only a crime, but is the biggest insult to clear-minded, right-thinking people who regard human life as the most sacred thing.
This man wants to kill millions all over again, and maybe if we give him more time, he will do just that. Let's leave it to the United "Notions" -- the organization that in half a century has allowed hundreds of millions to die from preventable causes.
God save us from stupidity.
DAVID HOLMES
Windsor
© The Windsor Star 2007
(21) Anonymous, April 13, 2007 7:40 AM
Bravo!
Bravo! Beautiful sentiments expressed in equally beautiful words!
(20) keen, March 19, 2007 4:32 AM
respond
idots; must lern to love one another one day we we will live together in peace in love we will survive as a rase of human beings
(19) robert alex, February 28, 2007 3:54 PM
hey
this website is cool
(18) Milton Franks-Lhermann, February 9, 2007 3:32 AM
Punish the perpetrators.
We must request of our leaders that they will threaten the perpetrators with heavy sanctions or war if they do not stop. And if they DO NOT, then act.
(17) donald, February 5, 2007 10:18 AM
Empower the Powerless
"And so it is our responsibility as government representatives -- and, morally, as citizens of the world -- to give voice to the voiceless, as we seek to empower the powerless -- be they the disabled, the poor, the refugee, the elderly, the women victims of violence, the vulnerable child -- the most vulnerable of the vulnerable."
Mr. Irwin Cotler's article is very powerful in its message, i.e., that we must empower the powerless. And so, in America, we must take a stand for the most powerless of all, the unborn child. In America (and the world), every day an ongoing genocide is committed against the most innocent of lives... those of the unborn. And just as in the tidy neat and clean language of the elite in Hitler's Germany, who labeled the mass murder of millions of people with clinical sounding names, so too, in America, we do the same with the murder of unborn human children. For example, instead of calling them, children, we label them fetuses. Instead of calling it, abortion, it is called, "Pro-Choice". So, will Aish HaTorah, the author, and numerous others in positions of influence, and/or power, take up the cause of the most powerless, the most helpless, and stand up and vigorously oppose the "elites" in our American society who clinically, cold-heartedly, and methodically approve/commit the genocide of the most helpless in our society, each and every day? Will you do everything in your power to stop the slaughter, stop the murder, i.e., stop ABORTION!? It should NOT be a woman's choice!
(16) Anonymous, February 5, 2007 9:26 AM
Yet we let this continue...
THIS powerful article is what I have been saying for a long time...but I spoke in a limited way with limited knowledge and, seemingly, NO power to move people to action. With this article in hand, surely I will become more effective in my efforts. Thank you for helping empower "the every-day" people who MUST RAISE THEIR VOICES in defence of those who cannot.
(15) Celia, February 4, 2007 9:47 PM
"...all Jews were victims"
The slide show of the victims of terror and the article about remembering the Holocaust are powerful tools and they should reach the millions in the world who dare deny the Holocaust, Israel's right to exist and who spread lies about the absence of Jewish victims on 9/11. Am Israel jai!
(14) DR. Bush, February 4, 2007 6:13 PM
the truth must be told now
professor cotler speaks the truth.
every reasonable human must listen.
modern civilization depends on this
truth to be truly human, and civilized.
stop the current holocaust of abortion
(13) Anonymous, February 4, 2007 4:50 PM
I must tell you I look forward to receiving your mail every week. I find the articles most interesting. I sure learn a lot.I am very proud of the article by Irwin Cotler as he is my member of Parliament.
(12) Hopey5000, February 4, 2007 4:01 PM
Getting help
Harvey McKay in his book about networking, asks who could you could ask for help at 2:00 in the morning. It is important that Jews maintain communications with church and charitable leaders before we need their help. We must be attentive to items on their agenda in order for them to consider ours.
(11) Stephanie, February 4, 2007 3:38 PM
What should I say?
I have a question. One of my dearest friends eloped last week. During lunch (my first and only meeting with her) his wife commented that the holocause never took place. I choked on my sandwich, and kept quiet - I wanted to reach across the table and choke the life from her as she stared at my Star of David hanging around my neck. What do you say to a person who makes a comment like that? Wedding luncheon or not. I'm a very cultural Jew, and I was so offended I couldn't speak. For the sake of my friendship with "C" I bit my tongue.
Any advice?
(10) Jacqueline Albin, February 4, 2007 3:24 PM
Wonderful article. I appreciate your articles every week.
(9) Celia Leal da Costa, February 4, 2007 2:40 PM
Remembering the Holocaust
Professor Cotler:
Your article was one of the highest expressions of human rights I have already read or listened to. May all governments, both developed and emerging reflect on all implications of underlying causes and manifestations of terror, violence and genocide. May the United Nations have a sound role in protecting the rights of less privileged persons, and people in peril of being victimized by their own or other factions. May God keep on illuminating your path in order that we may continue counting you as a beam and a rock on behalf of human rights. Thank you.
(8) khalikine, February 4, 2007 1:34 PM
Will hate stop one day from both sides ,
I am not anonymous; my name is Mustapha I live in Casablanca, Morocco.
Talking like this leads to more hate and racism. Not all Arab people are that bad, and at the same time not all the occidentals are really good.
No one could deny what happened to the Jews many years ago, it is a fact and if some people do, it is because of ignorance or mere anger towards what the mass media show about the Killings in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. Innocent people are and still being killed from each part.
In fact, all of them are Humans.
I am Arab and proud to be so. I am Muslim and never talked the way you did. Your speech, Anonymous, serves the extremists from all parts. What we really need is a moderate speech that leads to a world where there is no place for Hate, exclusion and bloodshed. A world where love and tolerance really coexist.
A world where race, colour and religion do not matter. To achieve all that, I invite you to think and say,
"THAT'S ENOUGH".
When in Europe, Jew people were easily extradited to the Nazis; King Mohammed V of Morocco though under French protectorate refused to extradite a part of his citizens to the German SS.
(7) Michael Skakun, February 4, 2007 12:44 PM
Cotler speaks for those who can no longer speak for themselves
Prof. Irwin Cotler's remarks at the Salle de Assemble are eloquent and searing reminders of the important of memory in a world that seeks to negate it. My father, who survived the Holocaust by impersonating a Catholic and a Moslem and finally returning to Judaism after the war, is an ember from the terrifying conflagration that is the Holcoaust. His story is related in "On Burning Ground" (Vivre et c'est tout in the French edition)
(6) Char, February 4, 2007 12:34 PM
Responsibility & Action to Prevent further Holocausts
Two of our Supreme Court justices said recently: It is not the duty nor responsbility of government to legislate moraltiy.
It is the duty of government to legislate morality. Without strong moral laws, that society cannot survive.
Moses summed it up in Deuteronomy 4. The laws and statutes given to you are to be a witness to the gentile nations that the laws are fair to all.
This is the problem of every nation today. They have made their own laws. They have taken matters into their own hands.
This is the problem with the United Nations today. The rules that had prevented a country from becoming a member have been ignored and despot countries have been allowed to not only become members, but have great sway in policymaking -- countries that do not honor The Almighty nor the laws handed down to Moses to us.
The roadmap to peace is the Holy Scriptures. The results of those who deviate from that roadmap is also in the Holy Scriptures and well foretold long ago what the end results will be and we are witnessing it today: Global chaos and terror until The Almighty intercedes for Israel.
(5) David Roth, February 4, 2007 10:03 AM
Great article.As my aunt told me, Remember what they did to us,Tell the whole world, Never forget, Aunt Annika: Survivor of Auschwitz.
(4) Devorah Judith Avram, February 4, 2007 9:08 AM
I will never stop fighting for our people. Not ever.
The terrorism slide show is sealed forever in my brain. Only 4 members of my maternal grandparents' families escaped the ovens. Today, Israel is surrounded by those who may war amongst themselves, but who are united in hatred of us, just because we exist. We must remain vigilant. Reason and "negotiation" are useless with the intolerant and those who are driven by inner hatred.
(3) Anonymous, February 4, 2007 8:24 AM
Beyond indifference and silence
Beyond indifference and silence are those who are confused about current events and cannot or will not differentiate between aggressor and victim. When the targeted group (Jews, Israel) is blamed, it seems to some people that there is little tragedy in doing them harm. Communication through honest media is the only hope.
(2) Anonymous, February 4, 2007 6:12 AM
interesting positioning
As I read this speech, I noticed in the left column two photos of Ahmadinejad. His face projecting the same evil message. What will it take for each of us to wake up and do what we need to do, each in his own way?
(1) Meryle N. Handler, January 31, 2007 10:58 AM
very moving,poignant and touched me deeply
As a teacher of Holocaust studies in a Hebrew School, I foud your 6 lessons to be a wonderful teaching tool to familiarize my students with the travesty.Very comprehendable.