The virulent antisemitism that led to the Holocaust is still rampant around the globe today, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said against the backdrop of Monday’s solemn commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In a fundamental way, he added, a common thread links what happened at Auschwitz to the recent manifestations of Jew-hatred, including the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel: the age-old hatred of Jews. Antisemitism “had its willing supporters then, and it has them now,” said Amb. Lauder, who also serves as chair of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation and who has dedicated decades to preserving the site. “It was fed by the indifference of people who thought they were not affected because they were not Jewish.”
Amb. Lauder also stressed that antisemitic acts undermine the central tenets of civil society. “These attacks are not just targeting Jews,” he said. “They are an attack on Judeo-Christian values, which are the bedrock of Western civilization.”
He delivered his remarks alongside four Auschwitz survivors and Dr. Piotr Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum.
The event, whose audience included 50 official representatives from more than 50 nations, honored the memory of the victims, highlighted the significance of Holocaust education and underscored the unwavering commitment to combating antisemitism and hatred. The WJC delegation comprised top organizational leadership, Jewish communal heads and a group of survivors brought together by Amb. Lauder and organized and funded by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation and its Auschwitz 80 Committee.