Today, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Army in 1945, is International Holocaust Memorial Day.
The first stone of a memorial to Italian Jews and others killed in the Holocaust was laid at Milan Central Station on Tuesday in the presence of President Napolitano, other national and local dignitaries and Holocaust survivors.
The memorial structure will be built on platform 21, which was the departure point for train loads of Jews being transported to concentration camps during World War II. Two train wagons – replicas of the originals – will stand on the platform next to the memorial building, which will house a library and a prayer room. The Director of the Memorial Foundation, Ferruccio De Bortoli, said that the complex will become a place of study, meditation and debate for people of all faiths.
“We are here”, said Mr De Bortoli, “because we want to construct a living, not dead, memory which will not become bogged down in rhetoric.”
President Napolitano said that the memorial complex will be of great educational value and will serve as a warning to future generations. He added that Italy has a duty never to forget what happened in this dark period of its history and also to remember the many just Italians who risked their own lives to save Jews of all nationalities.
Events across Italy will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day today. 7,000 – 8,000 Italian Jews died during the Holocaust.
