TIRANA, Jan 27 /ATA/ On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, “Israeli House Albania” organized on Thursday at the Opera and Ballet Theater the event entitled “Eternal Besa (Word of Honor).”
Hundreds of guests, dignitaries of the Albanian state, ministers, deputies, academics, families of the saviors of the Jews during the war, Jewish personalities from the region gathered in a gala evening that combined history with music.
In his address, the honorary president of “Israeli House Albania”, Yehiel Hilik Bar, as the grandson of the survivors of the Nazi genocide against the Jews, and the great-grandson of the victims of this war, said that “today we are paying tribute to about 6 million Jews killed, regarding whom it is often said that they were killed by the Nazi machine, but in fact it was not the Nazi machine that killed them.”
“It was human beings who killed them causing an unprecedented bloodbath. It was one of the greatest massacres and genocides that history has ever known. And we must never forget what happened, so we are here today to make sure that history does not repeat itself. 2/3 of the Jews were killed in this genocide. But even today, 8 decades after the Holocaust, some want to deny it, but we will not allow such a thing to happer. Even today we witness forms of hatred towards Jews or Muslims and we must stop this, because the war against one religion is a war against all religions, it is a war against humanity,” said Yehiel Hilik Bar.
He praised Albania as a country that has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, and that has always welcomed and protected the Jews who came from abroad to find a refuge here.
Honorary member of the Board of the Israel House Albania project, former president Alfred Moisiu underlined the importance of reminiscing the values of humanity so that the past does not repeat itself, drawing attention to the sacrifice of the Albanians to protect the Jews during the War.
“Albanians and Israelis are two nations that have historically been unfairly fought by others. This gives us the right to say that our historical rapprochement must be strengthened even more at present, which unfortunately is marred by phenomena and events that are likely to cause a greater catastrophe than in the past,” former president Moisiu said.
The speech on behalf of Prime Minister Edi Rama was delivered by the Minister of State for Relations with the Parliament, Elisa Spiropali.
Spiropali said that “Albania and Israel, Albanians and Jews have had their points of contact early on, as a sign of the destiny that unites us.”
“One of them, which is part of our national pride, is the attitude of the Albanians who offered shelter and protected thousands of Jews on the eve and during the Second World War,” she said. /m.m/sm/
