On 27 January, which is observed internationally as Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy addressed members of the German Bundestag in Hebrew, which is apparently a first-ever such occurrence.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Levy asked the assembled MPs to“take additional Holocaust commemoration measures."
“We are called upon to preserve the memory, to ensure its commemoration for the eternity of humankind. But alongside the memory, we are also called upon to shape a vision from it,” he said. We are called upon to preserve hope, and to plan a future together – a future based on shared values and dreams. We must connect and empower our young people – the generation of grandchildren and great-grandchildren; the third and fourth generations and the generations to come, and guide them to join together forces and minds, to advance a future filled with inspiration; a future based on the values of democracy, freedom and tolerance, which are shared by Israel and Germany.”
Levy finished his address by recitingpart of the prayer (kaddish)“in memory of those who perished,” the newspaper adds.
The Holocaust remembrance day is observed on the anniversary of the liberation of the infamous Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp by Soviet forces in 1945.