Dear guests,

The Holocaust was a singular rupture of civilization and an incommensurable genocide perpetrated against the Jewish People.

Today, here in Russia, as well as in Germany and all over the world, we are commemorating millions of Jews who were victims of this crime, which was planned and executed with remorseless contempt for human life in the name of Germany.

My country is aware of the guilt borne by National Socialist Germany for that immeasurable suffering. We embrace our responsibility for making sure that such a crime can never happen again. We remain grateful for the reconciliation, which we have been able to experience.

Remembrance of the Holocaust honours the victims, names the perpetrators and pays tribute to the liberators. At the same time, remembrance helps to remain vigilant and to take steps at an early time to counter tendencies towards antisemitism and intolerance, wherever they appear.

As a lesson from this nadir of my country’s history, the central task guiding all German political conduct is expressed in the first words of our constitution: „Human dignity shall be inviolable.“

Also for this reason, Germany cannot and must not remain silent when the dignity and rights of people are trampled underfoot, whether in our country or elsewhere in the world.

Hearing the poignant music during our act of remembrance today, music written by composers who suffered during the Holocaust, most of whom were murdered in concentration camps, allows us to feel this tragedy of mankind in ways words cannot express.

I am therefore all the more grateful to you, Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and President Boroda, for offering to organise this event in partnership with the German Embassy. This is a great honour for us as well as a gesture of reconciliation and trust which in no way can be taken for granted. I very much appreciate it.

Géza Andreas von Geyr
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Russian Federation