Keerian speaker at the event for the International Holocaust victims of the OSY Old Train Station was the Minister of State Akis Skrtsos. This international day is at the same time, he reminded at the beginning of his speech, and a day of remembrance of the Greek Jewish Witnesses and Holocaust heroes, with a unanimous decision of the Greek Parliament in 2004. “This” unanimous “and” unanimous “is Line on which we have to stand unmoved by all when we talk about the Holocaust. Daily. No matter how many years pass. Without mischief and hesitation, “he said.

Moreover, he added, that “without any doubt in attempted historical counterfeit they are formulated in the most unfortunate way and in the most inappropriate context for so -called” guilt to be overcome “. Unfortunately we heard this from official and strong lips of officials on the other side of the Atlantic, “he said in meaning.

According to Akis Skrtso, “Two words are just enough: never again. We must never tolerate and reconcile again with the appearance of the monster that justifies and legitimizes hatred, violence, brutality and ultimately the extermination of the other, the different, the non -ourselves. Auschwitz will be an eternal blotch but also a reminder of the darkness of the human soul and existence. For the crimes that may voluntarily or inadvertently commit even the people of the door next door to the former neighbors, friends or colleagues, when we allow themselves to be manipulated by dangerous, intolerant and unmistakable ideas and leaderships. “

On the other hand, the Minister of State continued, “Holocaust’s horror did not begin with the opening of Auschwitz and other crematoriums. The cultivation of dislike for the non -like, hatred for the different in origin, religion, political beliefs, sexual identity, lifestyle. “

And, coming to today, he pointed out: “Unfortunately, racism, the blind hatred for the other and the different, anti -Semitism, contempt for humanity have again raised the head in Europe.

Do we have to ask ourselves why the peoples are turning to more authoritarian leaders and more authoritarian parties or models of democracies?

What is not going well with the Western democracy and the global liberal economy, in order to push the peoples of Western countries to political solutions against democracy itself and peaceful social coexistence?

Are the new social and economic inequalities caused or exacerbated by the global distribution of capital and the pressure of middle -class incomes? Undoubtedly yes.

Are uncontrollable migratory refugee flows that have found many countries unprepared to manage them in an organized and controlled way to serve existing needs of societies and economies? Also yes.

Is the new battle of identities that creates rifts instead of uniting, resting social cohesion instead of composing? Does it build universes that meet only in the conflict?

Yes it is too. While we recognize that diversity is a wealth for societies, it seems that orientation, management and composition ability seems to have been lost. We become spectators of a choreography of rivalry, which causes constant tensions, “he also added:

“Are the new unprecedented challenges of climate change and rapid technological evolution that create new high -end uncertainty and insecurity for citizens? Pushing them to turn to shapes of a past that may seem more familiar but certainly no longer exists and cannot return? Undoubtedly yes. It is certain, and this is perhaps the greatest lesson of Nazi atrocity, that 80-90 years ago our world was facing corresponding threats and challenges that endangered its prosperity, freedom and security.

And then we found out how ethnicism, right or left, cannot be a unifying, humanitarian and effective ideology. As the only thing he brought was the disaster, the destruction and the hatred between the peoples. “

According to A. Skertso, “Is it very well -known for tonight’s event organizers to surround it with the right as well as an agonizing question of how in the modern age of social media and digital technology, will the young people’s awareness of the unthinkable? The fact that a channel and multiplier of the modern community of evil is the global web, social media and Echo Chambers is ringing a loud bell for our societies. Fake News act as a fertilizer in normalization and acceptance of intolerance. “

While at this point he asked a number of questions, such as: “How can we limit digital asymmetry and vulnerability to misinformation and slander networks?

How can we respond to the requirements of specific interests for complete deregulation of the digital landscape, without embankments against extreme views that attempt to manipulate public opinion?

How can we prevent developments in the field of artificial intelligence prepared by a new cosmopolitan revolution, but can it also pose enormous dangers? “

But he added, “the answer is neither in the technological overrun, nor in its deregulation.

The answer is not, neither in the naive integration into the social and private life of any technological evolution, nor in Ludurism that denies human innovation.

The answer generally is never at the ends. The answer always lies in moderation, balance, in search of those design principles and values ​​that serve above and beyond all individual identities and references, man himself. “

By noting that “the timeless presence of the Jewish element in the Greek area is historically recorded”, the Minister of State then made extensive presentation of this presence, from the Delos Synagogue to the years of the Nazi occupation.

On the occasion of the sacrifice of the Jews of Thessaloniki, he noted that the Holocaust Museum – “Although admittedly late” – is “the minimum debt to all of them, with the aim of bringing to light unknown personal stories, to become a Center for Research and Research and Study of international radiation.

Already Thessaloniki, thanks to the initiatives launched by the late Yiannis Boutaris, has restored the foundations of memory, reviews its past and highlights the layers of its time. This is now visible in the new subway of the city, at the Station of Hagia Sophia, where the passenger dives on a journey of historical and cultural memory and sees in front of him the evidence of the seal left by Judaism in the city. “

The Minister of State then spoke about the modern international situation: “We see with great anxiety about the return of a unhappy anti -Semitism in Europe and elsewhere and, our concern about the way they are taking war on Gaza and the identities of Rizopastikos is righteous. other anti -Western streams in our societies. ” In particular, “the raid and brutality of October 7 could not be left unanswered.

At the same time, we must critically dwell on the A la carte sensitivity of some who claim its monopoly.

You can’t be sad about what is happening in Gaza, but not about the genocidal brutality that Hamas has shown to children, elders, women, because they were Jews. Brutality, which even had the victims of ‘Arabs and foreign land workers. Or do you don’t see the atrocities in Ukraine.

One does not have to tune in to the selective sensitivity of some who did not say a conversation about the hell of Russian genocidal practice against civilians in Ukraine to realize that in Gaza, the complex war and civilians, as a strategic trick of Hamas, is a reality that is a reality. It is not bypassed.

Nor can you, of course, overlook the misery of civilians because they are hostage and human shields of a dynamic and miserable power, “he finally said on this issue.

The Skertsu speech ended with yet another reference to the Greek Jews and the pointing that “the old OSE wagon that will be placed at the Holocaust Monument in Thissio, next to the train lines, will be a memory fragment”.