THE SEVENTY YEARS DECLARATION
This declaration based on a text authored by Professors Dovid Katz and Danny Ben-Moshe as an initiative of Professor Katz (Site: defending history) is part of a new campaign to protest against the Prague Declaration of 2008 and against various resolutions of the European Parliament that followed the same principles in 2008 and in subsequent years. These declarations have tried to legally, formally and historically equalize the Nazi's genocidal crimes to the political crimes in communist countries.
The intention was to mischaracterize the crimes of communist regimes in comparing them to the worst crime against humanity. The Prague Declaration campaign has indeed sought to minimize and trivialize the Nazi genocide and undermines the uniqueness of the atrocity of the Holocaust.
The memory of a major event in the history of humanity has been questioned irresponsibly for purely political purposes.
In 2012 a monument was erected in Israel, to the bravery of the Red Army in its campaign against Hitler. Their struggle enabled some European Jews to escape the planned total extermination. The monument comes at the initiative of right as well as left wing leaders because it transcends politics to consider with honesty and without political considerations the debt of the Jewish people rescued by the Red Army. The monument was erected in Beit Yad Labanim, a site that is solemnly dedicated to the fallen soldiers.
Didier Bertin - 8 MARCH 2013
The Seventy Years Declaration
on the Anniversary of the Final Solution Conference at Wannsee
On this the 70th anniversary of the formal adoption by the Nazi leadership of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem” we the undersigned
Remember:
- With humility and sadness, the Final Solution plan which formalised and industrialised the by-then ongoing Holocaust of European Jewry
- The horror and brutality of the genocidal campaign of total annihilation of European Jewry conducted by the Nazis and their collaborators
- That the mass killing of European Jewry preceded that formal adoption of the Final Solution plan by half a year, and began on the Eastern Front in 1941 upon the initiation of Operation Barbarossa and the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union
- That millions of non-Jews suffered in numerous ways under the Nazis and other forms of tyranny in Europe during the Second World War.
Recognise:
- The Nazi campaign of annihilation of the Jewish people was philosophically, qualitatively and practically profoundly distinct and different to other forms of oppression experienced by European people during World War II, such as the horrors of Stalinism also before and after the War
- Our dismay that the lessons of the Holocaust were not learnt and genocide continues to occur in the international arena
- The nobility of Jewish partisans who survived ghettos or camps and went on to fight the Nazis and their allies
- The efforts of European states to acknowledge forthrightly their role in the Holocaust past
- That discussion about genocide in Europe must be based on the definition of the UN Genocide Convention 1948
- That antisemitism continues in various forms in Europe and beyond.
Reject:
- Attempts to obfuscate the Holocaust by diminishing its uniqueness and deeming it to be equal, similar or equivalent to Communism as suggested by the 2008 Prague Declaration
- Equating Nazi and Soviet crimes as this blurs the uniqueness of each and threatens to undermine the important historical lessons drawn from each of these distinct experiences
- Attempts to have European history school books rewritten to reflect the notion of “Double Genocide” (“equality” or “sameness” of Nazi and Soviet crimes)
- As unacceptable the glorification of Nazi Allies, and of Holocaust perpetrators and collaborators, including the Waffen SS in Estonia and Latvia, and the Lithuanian Activist Front in Lithuania
- Attempts to legalise or sanitize the public display of the swastika by racist and fascist groups
- Efforts to have the Holocaust remembered on one common day with the victims of Communism.
Advocate:
- Distinct days and distinct programs to remember the Holocaust and other victims of other twentieth century totalitarian regimes
- EU member states continue efforts to acknowledge their own roles in the destruction of European Jewry
- The need for ongoing genuine Holocaust education and memorialisation across the European Union
- Opposition to all forms of contemporary racism and discrimination and its manifestation, including antisemitism, contempt for Muslims, hate of Roma, homophobia, and other prejudice and intolerance generated by extremist politics.
Signatories of the 70 years declaration
UNITED KINGDOM -15 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Linda McAvan, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Martin Callanan, President of European conservatives and reformists group
Andrew Duff, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
Stephen Hughes, Vice President of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Baroness Sarah Ludford, Vice President of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
Bill Newton Dunn, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
Charles Tannock, Member of the European conservatives and reformists group
BRITISH PARLIAMENT
Louise Ellman,, Labour, Cooperative
The Baroness Deech D.B.E, House of Lords, Crossbench
Luciana Berger, Labour, Cooperative
Mike Freer, Conservative
Lord Janner of Braunstone, House of Lords, Labour
Denis MacShane, Labour
John Mann, Labour
Matthew Offord, Conservative
GERMANY - 19 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Jo Leinen, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Knut Fleckenstein, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Jutta Haug, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Constanze Krehl, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Martin Schulz, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Jutta Steinruck, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Norbert Neuser, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Bernhard Rapkay, Vice Président of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Gabriele Zimmer, President of Confederal group of the European united left/Nordic green left
Barbara Weiler, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
BUNDESTAG
Volker Beck, Die Grünen
Lukrezia Jochimsen, Die Linke
Jan Korte, Die Linke
Christian Lange, SPD
Monika Lazar, Die Grünen
Jerzy Montag, Die Grünen
Petra Pau, Die Linke
Prof. (em.) Gert Weisskirchen, SPD -Member of the Bundestag [1976 – 2009]
HUNGARY -3 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Kinga Göncz, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Zita Gurmai, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Edit Herczog, Treasurer of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
LITHUANIA - 8 signatories
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Justas Paleckis, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
SEIMAS
Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Social Democrat Party
Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, Social Democrat Party
Birutė Vėsaitė, Social Democrat Party
Algirdas Sysas, Social Democrat Party
Julius Sabatauskas, Social Democrat Party
Justinas Karosas, Social Democrat Party - DCD le 6 Juin 2012
LATVIA - 4 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Alexander Mirsky, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Tatjana Ždanoka, Membre of the Group of the green/European free alliance
SAEIMA
Boriss Cilevičs, Harmony Center Party
Sergejs Dolgopolovs, Harmony Center Party
AUSTRIA - 3 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Hannes Swoboda, President of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Karin Kadenbach, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Jörg Leichtfried, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
BELGIUM -2 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Louis Michel, Member of the bureau of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
Frédérique Ries, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
ITALY - 4 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Paolo De Castro, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Niccolò Rinaldi, Vice President of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
Vincenzo Iovine, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Giommaria Uggias, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
PORTUGAL -2 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Elisa Ferreira, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Ana Maria Gomes, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
SWEDEN - 2 SIGNATORIES
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Göran Färm, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
Olle Schmidt, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
IRELAND - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Proinsias De Rossa, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats - MEP 1999-2012
ROMANIA - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Ioan Enciu, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
FINLAND - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Hannu Takkula, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
NETHERLANDS- 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Jan Mulder, Member of the Group of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe
SLOVENIA - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Tanja Fajon, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
SPAIN- 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Miguel Angel Martínez, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
SLOVAKIA - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Boris Zala, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
BULGARIA - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Evgeni Kirilov, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats
FRANCE - 1 SIGNATORY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Catherine Trautmann, Member of the Group of the progressive alliance of the socialists and democrats