Source: VČP

On 27 January 2008, the Human Rights Ombudsman Dr Zdenka Čebašek-Travnik addressed the holocaust victims at the commemoration at the Ilirija Hotel in Ljubljana.

You can read the entire speech by clicking on this link

Dear ladies and gentlemen, camp prisoners, deportees, stolen children, World War II prisoners!

Let me address you also as the Auschwitz prisoners as you referred to yourselves in our mutual communication, and as comrades as you call each other. Naming a group is always symbolic, because it says a lot about common characteristics of the individuals joined in this group. In your case, you have been united by a terrible experience of a death camp and also the fact that you survived it and have preserved the memory of it for more than 60 years.

I myself belong to a generation, which learnt about World War II concentration camps in history classes. I can still name and show some of them on the map. Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia, presents us 57 camps from the National Socialism period, and additional seven from the Fascist Italy and also Jasenovac in Croatia. History teaches us that concentration camps were not created during World War II by the Germans , but by the Americans (1838 - for the Indians) and the British (between 1899 and 1902 during the Boer War). The first “concentration camp” was established in Germany in 1920, which was then disbanded in 1923 due to the pressure from the public. The highest number of such camps was during World War II in the territories of the present Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, France, the Netherlands, and Croatia. To these we have to add also the isolated parts of cities called ghettos. Just in the Eastern Europe there was around 600 ghettos with 4 million internees. But as though we didn’t learn from these data enough – during the Yugoslav War  there was more than 15 concentration camps.

According to the definition, a concentration camp is an institution, where political opposers or people of “disagreeable” ethnic, religious or social affiliation are detained or isolated. These camps are often connected to the term Holocaust. It originates from Greek mythology, however we are closer to the Jewish term for systematic genocide of different ethnic, religious, national and secular groups – especially Jews, carried out by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main goal of the Holocaust was to exterminate the European Jews, but besides them also other population groups were unwanted by the Nazis. These were mostly Slavic nations, the Roma, Jehovah’s witnesses, mentally and physically disabled, and homosexuals.  They, too, were tortured, persecuted and killed.

All mentioned camp prisoners were detained most often without judgment or a chance of defence, appeal or review of grounds for detention. After World War II the international community strived in different ways not to repeat the suffering of the civil population. It was not until 1 November 2005 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Resolution 60/7 on International Day of Commemoration in memory of the Holocaust victims, as the memory on the day of the liberation of Auschwitz, 27 January 1945. Despite the international community’s efforts, we have no guarantees that such camps will never exist again. Discussions of how to historically evaluate concentration camps and which victims to recognise as the victims of the Holocaust also raise concerns. Namely, some people deny the inclusion of non-Jewish groups among the victims of the Holocaust, the extremists even deny the existence of the Holocaust. That is why the United Nations General Assembly on 26 January 2007 adopted the Resolution on Holocaust Denial (61/255), again condemning any denial of the Holocaust, and urging all Member States to reject without reservations any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event.

How did Slovenia respond to the messages of the mentioned United Nations resolutions? On 12 September 2007 the parliamentary group of Social Democrats sent a Written parliamentary initiative to declare a remembrance day in the memory of Slovenian victims of Nazi Fascism to the president of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr France Cukjati. In its reply on 16 October 2007, the Slovenian Government wrote that it was aware of the significance that such activities had for preserving the memory of those severe crimes and that historical memory was the key factor, which prevented the reoccurrence of such actions in future generations, especially in the present time when there were fewer and fewer survivors who could share their personal experience of the Holocaust with the new generations. I’m not aware that the Government of the Republic of Slovenia already adopted this decision, therefore I myself am going to ask whether there are any obstacles for adoption of such a decision. With this decision, the Slovenian Government would show respect to the victims of the Holocaust as well as its willingness to contribute to the recognition, respect and preservation of human rights.

As I found out from the media, the General Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia will honour the International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a minute of silence at the beginning of the 35th meeting, which begins on Monday, 28 January 2008 at 2 pm.

Even though this day is dedicated to commemorating the victims of Nazi Fascism, we also have to remember all other victims, who were detained without any judgment or chance of defence, appeal or review of grounds for detention. Unfortunately, we cannot say that these kinds of human rights violations don’t occur any more, so we have to do everything to detect them and punish the violators, and this way communicate a clear message to future generations – NEVER AGAIN.

Allow me to say a few words to you, who have gathered here today at the commemoration, who are the victims of World War II, and who yourselves or through your children represent a live memory of the suffering caused by other people. Your presence, serenity and optimism that you reflect are the proof of victory of the human will to survive. Not only your suffering, but also your experience of how to survive inhuman conditions and how to process painful memories is the message that cannot be forgotten. And we, younger generations, must keep it alive.