NEWS

200 WORLD LEADERS MEET AT AUSCHWITZ

200 personalities from 40 countries stand united against Holocaust denial and racism, launch appeal for peace and intercultural rapprochement
More than 200 personalities from forty countries across five continents braved sub- zero temperatures on Tuesday, February 1, to pay their respects to the victims of the Holocaust at the Nazi camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in a visit organized by the Aladdin Project in partnership with UNESCO and the City of Paris.
The international delegation, led by Aladdin Project President Anne-Marie Revcolevschi, Aladdin Fund President David de Rothschild, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, and Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, declared that the act of intercultural and interfaith solidarity was intended to recall the dramatic consequences of Nazism and fascism, reject Holocaust denial and trivialization, and call on political and religious leaders and intellectual across the world to counter the old and new forms of hatred, anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, special envoy of Mr. Ban Ki-moon, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, former Croation and Mauritanian presidents Stepjan Mesic and Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, Mevlut Cavusoglu, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the special envoys and representatives of the Heads of State and Governments of Poland, France, USA, Russia, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Israel, and Iraq were among the members of the international delegation that also included the mayors of Paris, Madrid, Bucharest, Erbil (Iraq), Rabat, Casablanca, Fez, Meknes (Maroc), Libreville (Gabon), Cotonou (Benin), Sarajevo, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Bamako (Mali). The delegation also included Algerian, American, British, French, German, Iraqi, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Moroccan, Pakistani, Palestinian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Tunisian and Turkish political, religious and civic leaders and intellectuals.
 Ten survivors of the Holocaust: Samuel Pisar, Raphael Esrail, Ida Grinspan, Roman Frister, Ginette Kolinka, Yvette Levy, Izio Rosenman, Nicolas Roth, Meir Lau, and Marian Turski took part in the visit and provided members of the delegation with eye-witness accounts of the horrors that took place in Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Holocaust.
After a visit of the Birkenau camp, members of the delegation gathered at the International Monument for Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers followed by a minute of silence. Wreaths were laid and candles were lit in memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. American artist Theodore Bikel sang "Survivors' Anthem" in Yiddish.
Ecumenical prayers were administered by former Chief Rabbi of Israel Meir Lau, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, and Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia. Among the religious figures present were Cardinal Stanislaz Dziwisw, Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, Chief Rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, Sheikh Khamis Abda, President of the imams of the Palestinian territories, Dr. Abduljalil Sajid, Chairman of the UK Muslim Council for Religious Harmony, Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg René Gutman, Alexander Sinyakov, director of ecumenical relations in the Diocese of Chersonese of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Tareq Oubrou, Rector of the Mosque of Bordeaux and President of the Association of Imams of France, and Assani Fassassi, Secretary General of the Federation of African and Carribean Muslim Associations in France.
In his speech after the recitation of the Jewish prayers of Kaddish, Rabbi Meir Lau said: "When a spiritual leader of the Muslim world comes here to see with his own eyes the biggest cemetery in the history of humanity, it is a message to those who deny the Holocaust."
Hailing the Aladdin Project for bringing together religious leaders of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Auschwitz, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, said before reciting Christian prayers, "This is a particularly important moment, because it shows that religions want to cope with this difficult situation together."
Before reciting the Muslim prayers of al-Fatiha for the dead, Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, said, "I came to see firsthand the extent of the evil that human beings can do (...). We must teach our young people in mosques, churches and synagogues about what happened here."
In the afternoon, the delegation visited Auschwitz I Camp before the closing ceremony, in which Gerhard Schroeder, Asha-Rose Migiro, Bertrand Delanoe and Mevlut Cavosoglu addressed the delegation. Samuel Pisar, speaking on behalf of Holocaust survivors, said: "May the magic lamp of Aladdin, which in Arabic means nobility of faith., help light the way for the children of Abraham, and all others yearning for tolerance, reconciliation and peace."
Anne-Marie Revcolevschi ended the day with these words: "Each and every one of us, whatever his or her function or place, can ensure that humanity moves forward or backward. Today we have all come to move it forward. "
She praised the remarkable work of the Executive Director of the Aladdin Project, Abe Radkin, and his team for organizing the unprecedented visit. She thanked the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, the Embassy of Poland in Paris, the Director of the Auschwitz Museum, the Consul General of France in Krakow, and the local authorities in Krakow and Oswiecim for their cooperation with the organizers. She also thanked the partners of the visit: the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate of Memory, Heritage and Archives of the French Ministry of Defense, the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah and the Shoah Memorial in Paris.
Many personalities who could not join the international delegation sent messages of solidarity, among them Prince Hassan of Jordan, the Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Goma.a, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Mufti of the Caucasus Sheikh Allahshkur Pashazada, and the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit. Egyptian members of the delegation and some personalities from Tunisia and Algeria were unable to attend due to the current political situation in these countries.
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Chairman of the Islamic Conference Organization, was prevented from joining the international delegation in Auschwitz because his plane could not take off from Paris airport due to a technical fault. He had cut short his participation in the African Summit in Addis Ababa to take part at a press conference in the City Hall of Paris on Monday, in which he announced that he would be joining the personalities travelling to Poland on February 1.
More than 50 journalists travelled to Auschwitz to cover the historic visit of the international delegation to the Nazi camp, which has received considerable press coverage around the world.
 Members of the International Delegation that visited Auschwitz on 1 February 2011
Survivors of the Holocaust
Mr. Samuel Pisar, France
Mr. Raphael Esrail, France
Ms. Ida Grinspan, France
Ms. Ginette Kolinka, France
Ms. Levy Yvette, France
Mr. Rosenman Izio, France
Mr. Roth Nicolas, France
Mr. Roman Frist, Poland
Mr. Marian Turski, Poland
In the presence of
Mr. Stjepan Mesic, former President of the Republic of Croatia
Mr. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, former President of the Republic of Mauritania
Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor
Representatives of Heads of States and Governments
Prof. Roman Kuzniar, senior advisor to the President of the Republic for foreign policy, representing Mr. Bronislaw Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland;
H.E. François Zimeray, Ambassador for Human Rights, representing Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic;
H.E. Aziza Bennani, Ambassador, representing H.M. King Mohammed VI of Morocco;
H.E. Yasar Yakis, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Committee for harmonization of relations with the European Union at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, representing Mr. Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic of Turkey;
H.E. Bakhtiar Amin, former Minister, representing President Jalal Talabani of Iraq;
H.E. Egemen Bagis, Minister in charge of European Affairs and Chief Negotiator with the EU, representing Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey;
 H.E. Eleonora Mitrofanova, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation, President of the Executive Board of UNESCO, representing the Government of the Russian Federation;
H.E. David Killion, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of USA to UNESCO, representing the Government of the United States of America;
Lord Greville Janner, Chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust, representing the United Kingdom;
H.E. Dina Kawar, Ambassador, representing the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Mr. Alon Simhayoff, representing H.E. Zvi Rav-Ner, Israeli Ambassador to Poland (absent from Poland)
H.E. Maciej Kozlowski, Ambassador-at-Large for Polish-Jewish relations, representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland
Mr. Stanislaw Kracik, Prefect of the region of Krakow, Poland
International Organizations
Ms. Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO
Ms. Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, special envoy of Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Mr. Mevlut Çavusoglu, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Mr. Francesco Bandarin, Deputy Director General for Culture, Director of the World Heritage Centre
Mr Eric Falt, Director-General for External Relations and Public Information, UNESCO
Ambassadors and diplomats
H.E. Esther Coopersmith, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, USA
H.E. Almir Sahovic, Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina to France
H.E. Resit Uman, Ambassador of Turkey to Poland
H.E. Rama Yade, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of France to UNESCO
H.E. Davidson L. Hepburn, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Bahamas to UNESCO, President of the 35th session of the General Conference of UNESCO
 H.E. Krzysztof Kocel, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Poland to UNESCO
H.E. Miguel Angel Estrella, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Argentina to UNESCO
H.E. Odette Yao Yao, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Ivory Coast to UNESCO
H.E. Martina Nibbeling-Wrießnig, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Germany to UNESCO
H.E. Alexander Savov, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Bulgaria to UNESCO
Mr. Alexis Chahtahtinsky, Consul General of France in Krakow
Heinz Peters, Consul General of Germany in Krakow
Mr. Allen S. Greenberg, Consul General of the United States in Krakow
Religious figures
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, Poland
Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, President of the International Council of Yad Vashem, a survivor of the Holocaust, Israel
Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia
Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, France
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, France
Mr. Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of France
Mr. Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland
Sheikh Khamis Abda, President of imams in the Palestinian territories
Dr. Abduljalil Sajid, spiritual leader of the Pakistani Muslim community in Great Britain
Mr. René Gutman, Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg, France
Father Patrick Desbois, President of Yahad Unum Association, France
Mr. Alexander Sinyakov, Rector of the Russian Orthodox seminary in France, director of ecumenical relations in the Diocese of Chersonese, Patriarchate of Moscow
Professor Arie Ben-Nun
 Mr. Tareq Oubrou, Rector of the Mosque of Bordeaux, President of the Association of Imams of France
Mr. Assani Fassassi, Secretary General of the French Federation of Islamic Associations of Africa, the Comoros and the Caribbean
Mr. Yehoshua Ellis, rabbi of the Jewish community in Katowice, Poland
The Aladdin Project
Ms. Anne-Marie Revcolevschi, President of the Aladdin Project
Mr. David de Rothschild, Chairman of the Aladdin Fund
Mr. Jacques Andréani, Ambassador of France
Mr. André Azoulay, Advisor to the King of Morocco, President of Anna-Lindh Foundation
Ms. Marie-Hélène Bérard, President of MHB
Ms. Anny Dayan-Rosenman, senior lecturer at the University of Paris VII
Mr Eric de Rothschild, President of Shoah Memorial
Mr. Aly Elsamman, Chairman of the Committee for Interreligious Dialogue, Egypt
Ms. Ndioro Ndiaye, former Minister of Women, President of the Alliance for Migration, Leadership and Development, Senegal
Professor Abdou Filali-Ansary, philosopher, Morocco
Ms. Nilufer Gole, anthropologist, director of research at EHESS, Turkey
Mr. Claude Lanzmann, director and filmmaker, France
Mr. Roch-Olivier Maistre, First Advocate General at the Court of Auditors, France
Jean Mouttapa, director of the Spirituality Live Series Albin Michel
Mr. Abe Radkin, Executive Director of Aladdin Project
Political, intellectual and academic personalities
Prof. Ilber Ortayli, President of the Topkapi Museum, Turkey
Mr. Driss El Yazami, Chairman of the Moroccan community abroad, Morocco
Ms. Catherine Colonna, former minister, France
 Mr. Anis Al Qaq, former Secretary of State, Palestine
Mr. Ofer Bronchtein, former advisor to Yitzhak Rabin, president of the International Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in the Middle East, Israel
Mr. Stanislaw Bisztyga, Senator of Krakow, Poland
Mr. Piotr Cywinski, Director of the Museum of Auschwitz, Poland
Mr. Kazdaghli Habib, historian, Tunisia
Mr. Sari Nusaybah, President of Al Quds University, Palestine
Mr. Rafik Hassani, Member of Parliament, National Secretary in charge of international relations of RCD, Algeria
Mr. Enver Yucel, president of Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey
Mr. Anwar Ahmed Amin, President of the University of Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq
Ms. Corinne Evens, Belgium
Mr. Alain Husson-Dumoutier, Artist for Peace, painter and sculptor of UNESCO
Ms. Hedva Ser, Artist for Peace, Vice-President and founder of the International Museum of Women Artists
Mr. Adel Al-Kayar, University Professor, Iraq
Mr. Driss Khrouz, Director of the National Library of Morocco
Mr. A. B. Yehoshua, writer, Israel
Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal (ret.) , MD, Former Assistant Surgeon General and Deputy Asst Secretary for Health, USA
Professor Pawel Machcewicz, Director of the Museum of World War II, Warsaw, Poland
Mr. Faruk Kaymakci, diplomatic adviser to the Minister in charge of relations with the European Union, Turkey
Ms. Bariza Khiari, Senator, France
Mr. Michel Abitbol, historian, Israel
Mr. Mohammed Dajani, President of the Wasatia Movement, professor at Al Quds University, Palestine
Mr. Rachid Arhab, member of the Supreme Audiovisual Council, France
Mr. Pierre Besnainou, President of the United Jewish Social Fund, France
 Mr. Fouzi Bettache, Secretary General of the MOSAIC Federation, France
Mr. Simon Xavier Guerrand-Hermes, President of "Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace"
Mr. Mohammed Tozy, political scientist and academic, Morocco
Ms. Amira Mostafa, Director of "Arab World Center for Democratic Development, Jordan
Mr. Tudor Parfitt, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, United Kingdom
Claude Nataf, President of the Historical Society of Jews from Tunisia
Mr. Jamaa Baida, professor at the University of Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco
Mr. Abdellatif Laâbi, writer, Morocco
Mr. Faouzi Skali, Director of the Festival of Fez, Morocco
Mrs. Binnaz Toprak, professor of political science, Turkey
Mr. Sedat Ergin, columnist for the newspaper Hurriet, Turkey
Mr. Hasan Cemal, columnist, Turkey
Mr. Ali Bayramoglu, sociologist and writer, Turkey
Mr. Cengiz Aktar, political scientist and columnist, Turkey
Mr. Izak Kolman, representative of the Jewish community in Turkey
Ms. Gabrielle Rochmann, Deputy Director, Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, France
Mr. Cemal Usak, Vice-President of the Union of Journalists and Writers, Turkey
Mr. Fehmi Koru, columnist, Turkey
Ms. Yael Habif, Director of International Relations, University of Bahcesehir Istanbul, Turkey
Mr. Gunes Celikcan, filmmaker, Turkey
Mayors
Mr. Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris, France
Mr. Jacek Majchrowski, Mayor of Krakow, Poland
Mr. Nicephore Soglo, Mayor of Cotonou, former President of the Republic, Benin
 Mr. Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, Mayor of Madrid, Spain
Mr. Adama Sangare, Mayor of Bamako, Mali
Mr. Sorin Oprescu, Mayor of Bucharest, Romania
Mr. Fathallah Oualalou, Mayor of Rabat, Morocco
Mr. Nihad Qoja, Mayor of Erbil, Iraq
Mr. Jean-François Ntoutoume-Emane, Mayor of Libreville, Gabon
Mr. Simon Compaore, Mayor of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Mr. Alija Behmen, Mayor of Sarajevo, Bosnia
Mr. Mohamed Sajid, Mayor of Casablanca, Morocco
Mr. Abdelhamid Chabat, Mayor of Fez, Morocco
Mr. Hilal Ahmed, mayor of Meknes, Morocco
Mr. Janusz Marszalek, Mayor of Oswiecim, Poland
Mrs Anne Hidalgo, First Deputy Mayor of Paris, France
Pierre Schapira, Deputy Mayor of Paris, France
Martine Ouaknine, Deputy Mayor of Nice, France


 

 

---

Site created by : Liz Eipe                                                                                   Registered Charity No. 244096