STA, 28 January, 2018 - The Slovenian Association of WWII Veterans honoured International Holocaust Remembrance Day at a ceremony on Sunday, one of several events marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
The keynote speaker, author Goran Vojnović, argued that the Holocaust never actually ended since 1945 did not bring about true change. Many were saying "never again" after the war, but this was a false hope, he said.
"Wars have continued and new ones have started, revenge of the winners has been brutal, post-war dictatorships have outdone each other in their cruelty, antifascists have transformed into fascists and opened death camps to eliminate political opponents or even entire nations," he said.
Vojnović highlighted Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo as places where to this day genocide and pogroms have continued.
Nevertheless, he said Holocaust victims needed to be remembered, in order for people to remind themselves "that we once said 'never again' and that we have failed us."
"Let's remind ourselves that people who committed the most unimaginable atrocities in history were people just like us. Let's remind ourselves that each one of us is just a human capable of everything. Let's remind ourselves that humans are capable of the Holocaust," he said.
The ceremony, which featured President Borut Pahor and Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nusdorfer among the guests, is one of several events marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Several Jewish cultural exhibitions held a commemoration last week, while several more are planned on Monday, including a lecture by historian Franc Kuzmič in Murska Sobota and the opening of an exhibition at the Miran Jarc Library in Novo Mesto.
