Prime Minister Lapid met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and a delegation of Holocaust survivors at the Villa Vanessa, where SS officer and one of the architects of the Final Solution, Reinhard Heydrich announced plans to exterminate European Jewry on January 20, 1942. Lapid told the survivors that they were the real victors over Nazi Germany.

Prime Minister Lapid told Chancellor Scholz that he very much appreciated the courage and respect he showed in listening to the chilling testimonies of the Holocaust survivors. The Prime Minister emphasized that he was convinced that under the Chancellor's leadership, Germany would fight antisemitism with zero tolerance.

Prime Minister Lapid also told Chancellor Scholz that he found the event very moving, given that he is the son of a Holocaust survivor and that Holocaust survivors and their families were in attendance.

The Holocaust survivors thanked Prime Minister Lapid and Chancellor Scholz for the special visit. Each one told their story and that of their family during the Holocaust, as well as the story of their aliyah to Israel and the family they raised there. They emphasized the importance of instilling the memory of the Holocaust in the younger generations of Jews, Germans and the entire world.

Prime Minister Lapid said: "An hour ago, I entered the office of the Chancellor and was greeted by an honor guard of German soldiers who saluted the Jewish state. I thought about the first time my father saw a German soldier.

"He was almost 13. In March 1944, he was lying in the big bed in his parents' house. His father was next to him, because my grandmother was in Budapest. At 5 o'clock in the morning, there was a knock on the door. A German soldier entered. He asked, 'Where is Dr. Lampel?', my grandfather. My grandfather got up. My great-grandmother, Hermina, who spoke German, approached the soldier, got down on her knees—she was already an old woman – grabbed his boots and pleaded, 'Bitte, bitte.’ You have a mother too.'

"The soldier said nothing. My grandfather went and got dressed, took his bag, walked over to my father, lifted the blanket, and my father was crying. He said to him, 'My son, I will either see you or I won't.' He never saw him again.

"Today, the German Chancellor, the German military and the people of Germany came here, to the Wannsee Villa, the place where the bureaucracy of evil was crafted, to honor you and ask for your forgiveness. We came here to tell them we won.

"My grandfather Bela died in a concentration camp, but my father survived and raised a family, and they established a country. That country is proud to be here today. I thank you, my friend, for coming here with us today. It takes a fair amount of moral courage to do so. Thank you for coming."

The Chancellor also spoke at the event. "This is a horrible place. The job of passing on the story [of the Holocaust] to future generations is our biggest responsibility," he told the survivors. "The educational work that takes place here is extremely important. Our mission is to continue this endeavor," added Scholz.

"We have seen shocking [crimes] taking place in Ukraine, and Germany is providing asylum to those in need," said the Chancellor in reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and comparisons it has drawn to the Holocaust. "We must maintain our human image," he concluded.

After the conclusion of WWII, Russian and American troops occupying Berlin temporarily stayed at the "Villa Vanessa" after which it served as an educational center of the German Social Democratic Party.

After years of efforts, the villa was finally converted into a memorial site in the early 1990s.

Thousands of youths frequent the villa on a yearly basis to learn about the Nazi attempt to exterminate European Jewry.