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Thank you for the invitation to open this event.

It is a welcome initiative by the delegations from Italy and the Republic of Moldova.

The Holocaust is the gravest crime committed in modern European history. It is therefore incumbent on Europeans to ensure its remembrance. The passage of time and the death of direct witnesses make it necessary to rethink how we do this: to represent fairly the terrible loss, Nazi crimes, and resistance to them and to consider how they should be taught and remembered.

The Council of Europe maintains an extensive array of tools to help individuals, NGOs and authorities at all levels, to combat anti-Semitism, and hatred towards Roma, LGBT people and other communities targeted by the Nazis and others. These include our monitoring body ECRI, our No Hate Speech Movement campaign and our Steering Committee for Educational Policy and Practice.  This is drafting a Recommendation for member States on passing on remembrance of the Holocaust, of the resistance fighters against crimes perpetrated by the Nazis, their accomplices and collaborators, and on preventing crimes against humanity.

The draft recommendation is based on the principle that teaching about the Holocaust and Nazi crimes remains a precious antidote to the poisonous effects of anti-Semitism, racism, and all forms of intolerance and provides an opportunity to reflect on the founding values of modern Europe.  These include human dignity and respect for others. This recommendation will reflect the responsibility of public authorities in remembrance and the important role of formal and informal education in this area.

The Council of Europe also supports the creation of a network on “Education in places of memory of the Holocaust“.

This project addresses the challenge of transmitting Holocaust remembrance as the number of direct witnesses falls. It will help to answer questions about the role of remembrance places such as Struthof Natzweiler, the concentration camp not far from here. A network of other locations will be marked, including other camps – Struthof and Mauthausen for example -  former extermination camps such as Auschwitz Birkenau and Treblinka, and former transit camps including Drancy and Kazern Dossin.  So too will, places of resistance and towns and villages of specific importance.

Milena Santerini knows our work very well as a member of our expert group. Together with her and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum we are preparing a working meeting between established remembrance sites and new ones in April of this year.

More broadly, the Council of Europe promotes “multi-perspectives” in history teaching stressing to young people that “the other” is not their enemy; rather, the other is comprised of valuable individuals: potential friends, partners and allies. These and related issues are a part of the on-going Council of Europe project “educating for diversity and democracy: teaching history in contemporary Europe”.

Primary resources include Holocaust testimony and even children’s drawings made in concentration camps.  The aim is to transform an abstract subject into an individual experience, that touches their hearts and well as their minds and conscience.  We want to bring history to life in a lasting and meaningful way. 

Lastly, I understand that the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopted last year a Declaration embracing the principle of remembrance, based on the findings of the Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust, chaired by Elie Wiesel.  It echoes our own priorities in promoting knowledge and learning of the Holocaust and adopting national legislation in line with international standards to combat discrimination and hate.

This is to be welcomed, along with every other member state and organisation working to teach the lessons of history and to keep memory alive.