President Yitzhak Navon declared today that the Jewish people must multiply if it is to respond correctly to the Holocaust. Another response is to strengthen Israel, he said at a memorial service at the Yad Vashem marking the 50th anniversary of Hitler’s taking power in Germany.
In an emotional speech to an audience which included high school students and visitors from the United States, Navon said: “We must double, triple and quadruple our numbers and we must preserve and strengthen our state which represents all that Hitler tried to destroy.” His remarks were directed mainly to the youngsters and visitors from abroad. Cabinet ministers, Knesset members and diplomats did not attend the gathering.
Navon stood before a stone slab on which the names of concentration camps are engraved. After lighting a memorial torch, he said: “Our people, who have been dispersed among many countries found itself united in the concentration camps. Hitler did not distinguish between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, between Jews of different origin. And along with the six million, most Sephardi Jews were exterminated.”
Navon added, “Fate unites us. It united us during the Holocaust and we must unite here in our homeland.” He said the multiplication of the Jewish people and the strengthening of Israel must be undertaken jointly by world Jews and Israelis.
The President cautioned, “We should be careful before we call people (today) Nazis or talk about a (new) Holocaust. These are terms that should be applied only to that specific event.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
