Pledging “in the name of world Jewry” that the memory of the millions of Jewish martyrs murdered by the Nazis would be kept fresh in “our hearts and in the hearts of our children and grandchildren,” Dr. Nahum Goldmann yesterday declared that the “hopes, prayers and dreams of the Jewish martyrs led to the Jewish State–without them the world might not have heeded the Jews’ plea for sovereignty.”
Dr. Goldmann spoke at the unveiling of a monument to the memory of all Nazi victims erected at Belsen, site of the notorious Nazi concentration camp. He confessed that mixed with sorrow for the martyrs was “admiration and great humility before the courage of the millions of Jews who went to their deaths proud and confident, loyal to their people.” He also reviewed the history of the uprisings of the Jews in the ghettoes of Warsaw, Vilna and elsewhere and said they were “among the most glorious epochs” in Jewish history.
Other speakers included Joseph Rosensaft, former chairman of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews, and Sidney Silverman, British Jewish leader. The ceremony was divided into two parts, the first of which was Jewish. The monument, a 78-foot obelisk, bears the following inscription in several languages: “To the Victims of the Nazi Tyranny.”
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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.