Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-26-Speech-3-133"
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"en.20050126.8.3-133"2
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".
Mr President, I pay tribute to Simone Veil, former Liberal Group Leader and President of this Parliament. I am glad that it was at the initiative of the EU that the UN General Assembly this week for the first time commemorated the Holocaust. My colleague Mr Geremek was there representing Poland, and, as he said, it was the Auschwitz camp built by Hitler’s Germany in occupied Poland that came to symbolise Nazi crimes. Those who forget their own history are condemned to repeat it; we have an urgent need to confront anti-Semitism and racial and religious prejudice 60 years on.
We must learn lessons from the Holocaust: the way Nazism took hold, the insidious appeal of its ideology, the co-option of many apparently respectable people. If we understand the way Hitler persuaded 20th-century Germans to sign up to his evil doctrines, to scapegoat, despise and dehumanise Jews, Roma, Eastern Europeans, homosexuals and others, then we will be better placed to combat those in 21st-century Europe who desecrate Jewish graves or beat up Jewish people, who run Roma out of town, who paint graffiti on mosques, or who just resent foreigners or immigrants.
We pay homage to all the victims of the Holocaust. There is no hierarchy of suffering, but if you permit I will just mention that as well as the genocide of the Jews, that of the Roma deserves full recognition.
It is not to diminish German responsibility to say that Nazism was and is a virus – anyone can catch it. The uncle of Queen Elizabeth II got a dose of it and her grandson was silly and uninformed enough to wear a fancy-dress costume complete with swastika to a party – apparently he was meant to be Rommel. Prince Harry’s ignorance was shocking; sadly, however, he is far from unique. That is why Holocaust education is essential in all school curricula. Most young British pupils have never heard of the Holocaust.
I appreciate the reasons for the ban on the swastika in Germany but I am not persuaded that an extension of it across the EU would be effective. It would be far better to revive the stalled discussions on an EU law making incitement to racial and religious hatred a criminal offence. The substance – not the symbols – of racism must be our primary target. The Luxembourg Justice Minister gave a commitment to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs last week that he would restore this matter to the Council’s agenda. We will hold him to that. I believe we would have public opinion behind us. In the UK, six out of ten people support such a law.
I am glad we have the support of six groups for our resolution. All Europeans must be united in eradicating anti-Semitism and racism with determination.
Finally, it would be highly appropriate for the presidency to suggest to all governments that January 27 be made European Holocaust Memorial Day across the whole EU; it is already in some Member States, but not all. A written declaration in this Parliament five years ago made that suggestion, which is also supported by the World Jewish Congress. I would ask the presidency to stress that point in meetings with colleagues."@en1
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"Ludford (ALDE ),"1
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