Holocaust, undoubtedly, was the most terrifying event of the XX century. It is not only a tragedy of the Jewish people, it is a colossal disaster that has impoverished and robbed humanity as a whole. It is also the tragedy of Lithuania, a very painful page of my own country’s history. A page, which still has many question marks on its margins. Not all of them are with answers. Not yet. A lot has changed in my country in the last thirty years after we took our destiny back into our hands. A lot has changed when it comes to understanding and accepting our own history, our own victories, tragedies and failings. A lot has changed, but there is still a lot to be done – we need to accomplish many steps in the right direction made every day.
I could not agree more with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, who rightly said, that „After all, to feel concern about today’s world, means to take responsibility for it, so that the words “never again” are not mere ritual, repeated once or twice a year, but a personal commitment to do everything within my might to make change happen”. In my opinion, one of the ways to make change happen – is to continuously preserve the memory of the Holocaust and its victims. The more so important – to pass this memory onto the future generations, to prevent such tragedy from happening again. We cannot change history, but its memory can change us in the present moment.
Unfortunately, in many cases this memory rests only in the archives, pictures or short inscriptions in documents and, in my eyes, Zikaron BaSalon is a unique initiative and a way to bring those memories beyond those limits, to revive them, to make them heard by everyone. And as I used to say on many occasions: we are truly blessed by being able to have Holocaust survivors and hearing their testimonies at Zikaron BaSalon events. The time is ruthless: each year we have fewer Holocaust survivors, who could share their testimony. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to have such initiatives as Zikaron BaSalon continuing – I sincerely believe, that this project will do everything possible to protect the memories of the Holocaust victims and the survivors from vanishing into the past.
Anti-Semitism is a cancer, which, unfortunately, extends from the past into our XXI century, and it has to be treated and resisted. Not always with the help of administrative violence, law enforcement or noisy statements, but with words. Quietly, delicately and with proper dignity. And one of the ways to do it – by hearing testimonies of those, who survived the Holocaust or their children. At the same time, we have to commit ourselves to spreading these testimonies further, so that they would never be forgotten and this memory would always stay with us. Therefore, I wish the best of success to project Zikaron BaSalon and its enthusiastic team and look forward to hosting Zikaron BaSalon events at our Embassy.