“The Holocaust did not happen as a ‘lesson’ for humanity, but it did happen. And because it happened, it can happen again,” Mr. Guterres said the annual ceremony at the historic Park East Synagogue in New York to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“We must never lose our vigilance. We must always be vigilant,” he warned, because the painful truth is that anti-Semitism is still pervasive today. If anything, it’s increasing in intensity.”
Furthermore, the same applies to other forms of racism and hatred: anti-Muslim bigotry; Xenophobia; homophobia; and misogyny. In fact, the UN chief declared that neo-Nazi white supremacist movements pose the greatest internal threat of insecurity in several countries today – and the fastest growing.
“Their venom is moving from the fringes to the mainstream,” Mr. Guterres said, citing their demonization of the other, contempt for diversity, denigration of democratic values and disregard for human rights, as “evil is not new in our time. Their range and speed are new.”
stop the hate
The racist zealot, who in the past may have spilled his venom all the way to his dining table, now has a microphone with global reach, the secretary-general said, adding: “The paranoid conspiracy theorist, who may have found a single acquaintance in the past, who one can confide in can find a like-minded community of millions online today.”
“The consequences are as worrying as they are dangerous,” he stressed, recalling this on Friday during the annual session of the UN General Assembly holocaust memorial, He had started an appeal to stop the hatred and set up guard rails.
“I’ve called out social media platforms, tech companies, and advertisers for their complicity in amplifying malicious lies for profit. I demanded a regulation to clarify the responsibilities. And I called on all of us to stand up and stand firm against hatred. We must confront untruths with facts, ignorance with education, indifference with commitment,” he explained.
Religious leaders and governments must stand up
Mr. Guterres went on to say that religious leaders everywhere have a duty to prevent the exploitation of hate and to defuse extremism among their followers. At the same time, governments everywhere have a responsibility to explain the horrors of the Holocaust.
“The United Nations – also through ours Holocaust Outreach Program – is at the forefront of this crucial work. And with fewer and fewer direct testimonies, “we must find new ways to carry the torch of remembrance. Within families and across generations. Within classrooms and across regions. We have to tell the stories of the persecuted.”
These stories must include the mass murder of Roma and Sinti; the torture and murder of other victims of the Nazis: people with disabilities; German of African descent; homosexuals; Soviet prisoners of war; and political dissenters and countless others.
“And above all, we must tell the stories of all the children, women and men who were systematically murdered and who together made up the rich and vibrant mosaic of Jewish life in Europe. We must not remember the Holocaust as the story of 6 million dead; but as 6 million different death stories,” Mr. Guterres said.
Honor the memory of those who perished
The general secretary said our responsibility is to honor the memory of those who died, “but also to learn the truth about what happened and to ensure that neither we nor future generations ever forget.” Reject impunity for perpetrators everywhere. To stand up against those who deny, distort, relativize, revise or otherwise gloss over their own complicity or that of their fellow citizens.”
Quoting renowned scholar and diarist Victor Klemperer, Mr Guterres said: “Curious: the moment modern technology erases all borders and distances… the most extreme nationalism rages.”
While this passage was written in the 1930s, the UN chief noted that it has an uncanny resonance today.
“Our answer must be clear. We must strengthen our defenses and reject those who seek to deny the past in order to remake the future. We must commit ourselves – not just to remember – but to speak out and stand up. Raising our voices wherever we witness hatred and standing up for human rights and dignity for all, today and for days to come,” concluded the Secretary-General.
