Written declaration No. 434 | Doc. 12137 | 26 January 2010

Day of Remembrance to commemorate the extermination and persecution of the Jewish people and the Italian military and civilian deportees to Nazi camps

Signatories: Ms Fiamma NIRENSTEIN, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Pedro AGRAMUNT, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Miloš ALIGRUDIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Florin Serghei ANGHEL, Romania, EPP/CD ; Ms Deborah BERGAMINI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Lorenzo CESA, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Agustín CONDE, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Alain COUSIN, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Gianni FARINA, Italy, SOC ; Mr György FRUNDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Giuseppe GALATI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Jan KAŹMIERCZAK, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr András KELEMEN, Hungary ; Mr Göran LINDBLAD, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Alejandro MUÑOZ-ALONSO, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Zsolt NÉMETH, Hungary ; Mr Pasquale NESSA, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Kent OLSSON, Sweden ; Mr Gabino PUCHE, Spain, EPP/CD ; Ms Carmen QUINTANILLA, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Giacomo SANTINI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Michał STULIGROSZ, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Luigi VITALI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Piotr WACH, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Michał WOJTCZAK, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe:

Remembers with revulsion, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, the massacre by the Nazis of six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of other people persecuted for their race, religion, political persuasion or sexual orientation;

Affirms that indifference is best countered by nurturing the memory of injustice. The institutions have a leading role to play in promoting awareness of the Shoah, because future generations will not be able to hear first-hand accounts from those who survived. It is only through memory that new tragedies can be averted;

Undertakes to combat the phenomenon of “denialism”, which refuses to accept that the massacre of the Jews took place, or challenges the dimension of the act. Denialism is reawakening new and belligerent forms of anti-Semitism, which are manifesting themselves in calls for extermination;

Expresses its concern at the resurgence of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe. New anti-Semitism assails both the Jews of the world and the State of Israel, which is accused of coarse prejudicial acts, such as bloody conspiracies and international plots to conquer the world.

The Council of Europe therefore undertakes to work constantly and to do all in its its power to pass on the memory of the Shoah and to oppose all forms of anti-Semitism and racism.

Today we observe a minute’s silence in memory of the six million victims of the Shoah.