Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko’s speech on Holocaust Memorial Day, Soviet War Memorial, London, 27 January 2012
Lord Mayor! Rabbi! Your Excellences! Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear friends!
Every year we come here, to the Soviet War Memorial, to honor the memory of the victims of Holocaust – one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the 20th century.
And today we have only one feeling in our hearts – this should never happen again!
There is no doubt what so ever, that during World War II there developed a terrible and catastrophic policy and action of genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany against the Jewish People, confirmed by innumerable eye witness survivors and fully documented again and again.
January 27 has been officially recognized by specially signed UN General Assembly’s resolution as Holocaust Memorial Day.
On this very day – January 27, 1945 Soviet Army has set free prisoners of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp.
Between the years of 1941 and 1945, 6 millions Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
Three million Jews in Poland, more than half a million in Hungary, hundreds of thousands in Russia, Slovakia, France, Belgium, Holland and more.
These people were singled out not because of any wrongdoing, but rather because of their families’ religion or where they were born.
As philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
I regret to say that 70 years after the end of this attempt to exterminate an entire nation, anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and extremism continue to plague humanity.
People are discriminated against and even targeted for violence simply because of where they were born or who their ancestors are. We can watch it every day occurring in many countries of the world.
Now more than ever, we must all work to understand other people of different cultures, races, and religions. Mutual respect for differences may lead to the end of hostilities, and only then will the opportunity for world peace exist.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in his letter: “Tragedy of Holocaust can not be reversed. It must be remembered while the human memory is alive”
And this is very true - memory of the Holocaust is need by those alive, not by the dead.
And we must do everything possible so that the lesson of Holocaust is well learnt so that it would never occur again.
To say that the 9th of May is a very special day in Russia would be a gross understatement. It is about life and humanity’s true mission on Earth. For it is not as much about Victory, which was granted by God to the people that were on the right side of history, as about its price, the sacrifices that made it possible. As is said in the Bible, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John, 15:13).
Russia and the United States are the most advanced states in terms of nuclear energy use. We have put an end to the Cold War and the arms race, including the nuclear one. Today, our coun- tries have taken a common stand for the strengthening of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and have intensified their cooperation in combating nuclear terrorism.
Russia expressed its full support for the proposal to hold a nuclear security summit (NSS) put forward by President Obama in 2009. The first summit took place in 2010 in Washington. We reaffirm our political commitments stated in its communique. Russia has signed and ratified the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment, as well as the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, adopted by the international community at Russia's initiative. We call on other states that have not yet done so to expedite the completion of the necessary internal procedures for accession to these key international instruments.
I am glad to welcome you at the London presentation of the Ulyanovsk Region. We are continuing the series of meetings with heads of leading Russian regions under the aegis of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce initiated last autumn by the Russian Embassy. We have already covered the Republic of Sakha and the Saratov Region.
It seems that the latest Chatham House report on Russia cries out for comments by our Press Office. The authors, unfortunately, displayed an utterly biased attitude towards the subject and abysmal lack of intellectual honesty, leaving an impression that Russian politics is done in London. For the sake of comparison, the report “Engaging with Russia” to the Trilateral Commission in July 2006, represented a genuine attempt at honest analysis.
We have already entered the era of truly globalized world with porous and transparent national borders, encouraging more cultural, economic and social exchanges between people. That is further enhanced by Internet networks, encompassing nowadays the whole planet. All this creates a new type of space for unrestricted transnational intercourse.
We have a very special occasion today. We are here to mark and discuss the forthcoming publication in English of the diaries of Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky, prominent Russian diplomat, who was representing the interests of the Soviet Union in the United Kingdom during the extremely challenging and difficult period of the World War Two.
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