27.01.2005
Auschwitz Liberation: LWF General Secretary Regrets Commitments to Prevent Genocide Remain Unfulfilled
Noko Underlines LWF's Contribution to Promoting Dialogue, CooperationGENEVA, 27 January 2005 (LWI) - Solemn commitments never to allow genocide to recur after the atrocities of the Nazi regime remain unfulfilled, and are an unacceptable reality in today's world, says Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
In a statement released today, Noko notes that the various actions taken in condemnation of the Holocaust including the establishment of modern international human rights law have neither brought anti-Semitism to an end nor prevented further genocide from occurring.
Noko underlines the LWF's commitment to dialogue and cooperation between religions and ethnic groups as prerequisite to promoting human understanding that can preclude genocide and attitudes related to it.
Around six million Jews died in Nazi camps alongside millions of others including prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti people, homosexuals and political opponents to Adolf Hitler's 1933-45 regime. Today's remembrance marks the Soviet troops' liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp where an estimated 1.5 million people, most of them Jews from across Europe, were executed in gas chambers or succumbed to disease, starvation and abuse.
As Auschwitz's liberation is commemorated in a world that is still encountering anti-Semitism, religious intolerance and genocide, "we must realize that our work has barely begun," the LWF general secretary concludes. (243 words)
The full text of the statement by the LWF General Secretary follows:
Statement by the LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp
Today's commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp is an occasion to remember the victims of the Nazi regime. It is also a moment to reflect on the fact that the main cause of this tragedy -- anti-Semitism -- and the human capacity for hatred and violence against 'the other' remain an unacceptable reality in today's world.
The horror of the Holocaust led to many solemn commitments never to allow genocide to occur again, and helped to gather political will for the establishment of modern international human rights law. But these solemn actions have neither brought an end to anti-Semitism nor prevented further large scale slaughter of human beings from occurring. What has happened in Rwanda, Cambodia, the Balkans and Darfur, to name but a few countries, shows that the commitment never again to allow genocide to occur remains unfulfilled.
Dialogue and cooperation are the only means of promoting the sort of human understanding and solidarity that can preclude genocide and the attitudes that lead to it. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is committed to enhancing collaboration between people of different faiths in order to build community across religious and ethnic boundaries. For at least two decades, the LWF has actively encouraged conversations and cooperation between its member churches and Jewish communities.
On this day, looking at the reality of anti-Semitism, genocide and religious intolerance around the world, we must realize that our work has barely begun.
Geneva
27 January 2005
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