Remembrance Day, the message of the Captains Regent of San Marino: “to condemn and fight all forms of hatred and discrimination, but also of indifference”
On January 27 of each year it brings to attention and memory the horror revealed to the whole world by the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp.
Once again this year, on International Remembrance Day, the world is once again confronted with the Shoah and with the wound that the tragedy of the Holocaust opened in the heart of Europe and beyond, indeliblely marking the twentieth century and undermining the foundations themselves and that patrimony of values of tolerance and respect founding our civilization. A historical reality that continues to shake our conscience and question us.
This year, the invitation of the United Nations is to accompany the commemoration of the many innocent victims with a dutiful reflection on how they have also been deprived of belonging to their own homeland.
The Holocaust and the Second World War, tragedies that have no comparable counterpart in human history, have in fact produced millions of refugees as well as an enormous loss of human lives. Nazi propaganda, fueled by disinformation campaigns and hate speech, had the ability to create a dramatic process of exclusion of the other from their country of origin, thus adding to the pain of persecution the suffering of humiliation and loss of own home and identity.
History today recalls our responsibility to condemn and fight every form of hatred and discrimination, but also of indifference, factors that risk re-proposing themselves as fertile ground for the diffusion of phenomena of intolerance and violence.
In fact, over time, the precious presence of the survivors, who have dedicated their lives and their commitment to witnessing this immense tragedy to the world, is increasingly missing, but who are gradually disappearing. Their loss cannot and must not dim the memory of this painful legacy.
It is our duty to remember all this in the present, so that it is not lost for future generations. We cannot allow the message of commitment to justice, freedom and tolerance, which the memory of the Holocaust has preserved and transmitted over the years, to be interrupted.
Indeed, the meaning of this day is inseparable from the responsibility of the international community to defend the inalienable values of dignity and respect for the rights of every human being and to build paths that lead to the formation of the conscience and identity of the younger generations.
It is the duty of everyone, from the institutions to civil society, to the school, culture and information environments, to make this legacy with the awareness that the dramatic memory of the Holocaust always remains to dispel any disbelief in the face of what happened and to encourage that sense of moral responsibility which is a fundamental guide in the face of the uncertainties of the present. A precious memory, which has led to understanding the depth of the evil of which man can be capable and the fragility of the moral barriers in defense of civilization, but which has also led to the desire to rebuild coexistence and respect on more solid foundations. between peoples.
Today’s day is not meant to be just a celebratory warning to counter the silence of the many, the indifference and inability to react in the face of persecution, but also the celebration of the courage, generosity and sense of responsibility of all those who they are committed to offering protection to the persecuted and saving other lives, even at the risk of their own. Our sincere gratitude goes to them for having kept alive the ideals of humanity and solidarity with their actions during what remains one of the darkest pages in human history.
The shared memory of evil therefore becomes an indispensable tool to prevent the tragic events of the Holocaust from being diminished in their historical and human dimension; it contributes to the development of a culture of peace by reinforcing the awareness that, today as then, the freedom of the other also depends on our choices and on the respect we have for our neighbour.