Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Speech at the Inauguration of the New Holocaust History Museum at Y…

Ladies and Gentlemen, Esther Horonchik was born in Poland, and when she was young, she arrived in Paris with her family in search of a better life. Her family members established clothing workshops, and tried to build a better future in their new homeland. On the eve of the World War, Esther married Nissan Frankel, and they had a son named Richard. When Nazi Germany occupied France, Nissan was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Esther and her son were arrested one year later. They were transferred to Pithiviers Camp. There, the small children were separated from their mothers. Esther was sent to Auschwitz on August 6, 1942. From the deportation train, she managed to throw out a postcard addressed to her family in Paris, and I quote: [Translation from the Hebrew] “My darlings! I am on a train. My Richard. I do not know what became of him. He is still at Pithiviers. Save my child, my innocent baby! He is probably crying bitterly. Our suffering is nothing. Save my Richard. My Richard, my soul, is far away and no one is protecting my 2-year-old child. Give me my Richard! Esther.” The two-year-old Richard was deported several weeks later. All that remained with his relatives was a red shirt which Esther wore one of the times she was photographed with her son. That shirt, the only remnant we have of Esther, is here today, at Yad Vashem. 63 years following her death, Esther Horonchik cries the cry of the Biblical Job – “Cover not my blood, oh earth” – and the blood of Nissan and Richard. The new Holocaust History Museum which we inaugurate today is meant to ensure that not earth, not time and not forgetfulness will cover the spilled blood of 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. The Holocaust was our tragedy, the tragedy of the Jewish people – but those days were dark for many peoples, in front of whom the horror was carried out: many of them cooperated with the murder machine, a few righteous gentiles risked their lives to rescue Jews, and many millions of them stood idly by and did nothing to save even one person out of six million. Ladies and Gentlemen, There are several chambers in the heart of man. In the national Jewish heart – there is a chamber of memory. And it is here at Yad Vashem. A visitor walking the paths of this museum, walks out into the sky and the open landscape of Jerusalem. I know the feeling of the Jew who leaves these dungeons – and breathes the air of Jerusalem. He feels at home, he feels safe, feels the terrible difference between one who lives in his country, his homeland, in a country which is capable of defending his life – to one who stood alone, defenseless against bestial men. He knows – the State of Israel is the only place in the world where Jews have the right and the strength to defend themselves by themselves. It is the only guarantee that the Jewish people will never again know a Holocaust. It is our historic commitment to the Jewish people. The Prophet Isaiah prophesized: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Today, from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem should go forth the word of humanity, a world-wide vow to preserve human dignity, and protect its image, its freedom and rights, a universal vow to fight any expression of racism and hatred of the other. A vow to remember Esther, Nissan and Richard – a vow that states “Never Again”. BPI-info