site.btaBulgarian President in Prague: "We Cannot Let the Memory of the Holocaust Slip Away"

Bulgarian President in Prague: "We Cannot Let the Memory of the Holocaust Slip Away"

Prague, January 27 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev
told a Holocaust remembrance conference in Prague Tuesday that
the crimes of Nazism should not be forgotten. "We cannot let the
 memory of the Holocaust just slip away with the last surviving
witnesses," Plevneliev said, quoted by his Press Secretariat.

The 4th International "Let My People Live!" Forum in Prague was
organized by the European Jewish Congress to mark International
Holocaust Remembrance Day. Plevneliev spoke during a session of
heads of state which was part of the forum.

The Bulgarian President warned that unless European societies
learn the lessons of the past, they will keep making the same
mistakes. The big question about the victims of totalitarianism
is particularly important for the Bulgarian people, he said.

According to Plevneliev, the people who planned and carried out
the horrors of the Holocaust are not the only ones to blame. The
 responsibility should also be shared by those who remained
indifferent, believing that the events did not concern them, he
said.

He recalled that during World War II Bulgaria rescued its entire
 50,000-strong Jewish community from deportation to Nazi death
camps. Sadly though, Bulgaria was unable to rescue the Jewish
population in parts of Northern Greece and Yugoslavia which were
 under Bulgarian administration at the time, because they were
not Bulgarian citizens, Plevneliev said. "We deeply grieve their
 death, as we do all the victims of the Holocaust, who will
always be remembered," he said.

Plevneliev recalled the words of gratitude to the Bulgarian
people which were spoken by former Israeli President Shimon
Peres at the opening of an exhibition in the European Parliament
 two years ago. Peres described the Bulgarian people as
unassuming yet truly heroic as they gave the world an
unprecedented example of courage and humanity when they made the
 moral choice to resist Nazism, the worst evil in history,
Plevneliev recalled.

He said the life of every human being is invaluable, whether
they are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or followers of other
religions. He noted that the cruel attack in Paris triggered a
wave of international solidarity.

Urging the participants in the conference to stand united
against terrorism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, Plevneliev said
 that on Tuesday night the lights in the offices of the
Bulgarian President's Administration will stay on as a token of
support for all people in Europe who are anxious about their
safety today. The symbolic act is part of a campaign led by
Jewish organizations.

Plevneliev quoted Lassana Bathily, a Muslim who rescued people
in the Paris hostage crisis this month, as saying: "We are
brothers. It does not matter if you are Jewish, Christian, or
Muslim. We are all in the same boat and we need to help each
other in order to cope."

The President noted that in the centre of the Bulgarian capital
Sofia there is an Orthodox church, a Catholic church, a Muslim
mosque, and a Jewish synagogue situated very close to each
other. "They exist side by side in peace, which is a remarkable
example of tolerance, wisdom, and respect for the other,"
Plevneliev said.

The Prague forum was attended by Czech President Milos Zeman,
European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Israel's Knesset
Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, and European Jewish Congress
President Moshe Kantor.

Later on Tuesday, Plevneliev and other European heads of state
and government were expected to gather in Poland for observances
 of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz
concentration camp.