To the women and men of our time, to those in time to come:
Zakhor — Remember!
The lonely sites of Auschwitz and Birkenau are recognized today as symbols of the Final Solution, under which title the Nazis carried out the extermination (known as the Shoah) of six million Jews, one and a half million of whom were children, simply because they were Jews.
They died abandoned by an indifferent world.
Let us bow our heads and, in the silence of our hearts, remember the Shoah.
May our silent prayer help us today and tomorrow to better respect the rights of others, of all others, to life, liberty and dignity.
Let us remember that all of those murdered at Auschwitz and Birkenau — Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Russian prisoners of war — could cry out each day in the words of the prophet Zephaniah (1:15):
“A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
Signatories:
Maitre Theo Klein, President of the “Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives”, France; President of the European Jewish Congress
Cardinal Albert Decourtray, Archbishop of Lyons Chief Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat, Chief Rabbi of France
Prof. Ady Steg, President of the “Alliance Israelite Universelle”
M. Markus Pardes, President of the “Comite des Organisations Juives” of Belgium
Prof. Tullia Zevi, President of the “Unione delle Comunità Israelitiche” of Italy
Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, Archbishop of Cracow Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris
P. Stanislaw Musial, S.J., M. Jerzy Turowicz, members of the Polish Episcopal Commission for Relations with Judaism