NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor attends the memorial ceremony – “Shoah – We remember”

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today attended the memorial ceremony "Shoah – We remember " at the Maribor Synagogue, where he also addressed all the participants assembled for the ceremony.  In his speech he emphasized, among other things, that "the Holocaust almost completely wiped out the Jewish community in Slovenia; those who were not killed in Nazi Concentration Camps, decided to move to another country after World War II , mainly to Israel."

     

(Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA)

      
"When we truly horrified take a look at the destiny of the European Jews on a remembrance day, we commit ourselves as the Slovenian community to keep also the historical truth about the presence of the Jews in our territory and the intolerance that caused their exile from here.  In the light of these facts, it is often claimed that in Slovenia we know anti-Semitism without the Jews, however, this territory was the home of the Jews as early as in the period of Ancient Rome and is still their home today; on the other hand, the Jews were exiled several times and their presence and history were consciously erased, destroyed or overlooked," said Mr Pahor.

   

(Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA) 

  
The Slovenian Prime Minister went on by pointing out that anti-Semitism is still present in Slovenia and in Europe with outbursts that happen year after year, including insulting inscriptions on the Jewish Cemetery in Ljubljana and similar inscriptions on the Maribor Synagogue.  "We must not forget that each of us belongs to some marginal social group, either to a national, religious, sexual or life-style minority.  If we allow that prejudices are created against one of these groups and consider them legitimate, we will soon develop an atmosphere in which prejudice toward all minorities will be allowed.  In that case, not only one of us will be a victim, we will all be victims of prejudice," concluded Prime Minister Pahor.