Of the museum, i want to welcome the many ambassadors, representatives from the u. S. State department, other u. S. Government agencies, members of our Holocaust Memorial council, and National Jewish organization. Most importantly, i want to give a special warm welcome to the many Holocaust Survivors with us today. It has been their honor, and in memory of the victims, that we are dedicated to making the world a better place for ourselves and future generations. This event commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day being streamed live. I also want to welcome those watching from across the u. S. And across the world. Wherever you may be, we hope you share your reflections of the day on social media, and tag with weremember. In 2005, the United Nations established this day to honor the memory of the victims of the holocaust, to educate ourselves about that history, and draw from it lessons so that we may prevent future genocide. Today, we mark the 75th anniversary of the day that the soviet army liberated auschwitzbirkenau. More than 1. 1 Million People were murdered there, most of them jews. Millions more were murdered and other in other death camps. Many others were killed in their own villages or nearby. Millions of nonjews were also persecuted and killed by the nazis and their collaborators. We remember all of them. All around the world, many governments, many u. N. Offices are remembering the victims of the holocaust. The director of our museum is not here with us, because she is in poland, where she will join World Leaders at a commemoration on monday at the site of auschwitzbirkenau. Let me say a word about the u. N. Choice of today of our day to remember this tragedy. Choosing the day on which soviet troops liberated auschwitz as our day of remembrance would seem to lend itself to a particular type of commemoration. One that would focus on the glorious deeds of the liberating army. And yet, the World Community has, from the very first, made a different choice. While of course we recognize there would have been no end to the suffering had it not been for the heroic deeds of the allied army, we nevertheless put our focus today on remembering the victims of the nazi onslaught. Following in the tradition of the early memory, like primo levy, we shone the light on those persecuted. We remember how they fought to retain their dignity in suffering, and we honor those who, by some miracle, were able to make it to the day of liberation and reclaim their humanity. The fact that we focus on the victims and survivors rather than just the liberators today is important. It is in honoring them that we come to understand the fragility of human civilization, and through that, understand how much depends on us. When we truly listened to the voices of the persecuted rather than the perpetrator, it gives us the understanding we need to create the world in which what happened to the jews of europe should never again happen to any people anywhere. Only then can we truly say never again. We hope all of you will join us in our pledge to learn from the stories of the victims and survivors of the holocaust, and from that, do more so that the next generations will not grow up in a world where Mass Violence is accepted as the normal course of events. Now, im very pleased and honored to have with us the ambassador of sweden to the u. S. Please join me in welcoming her to the podium. [applause] survivors of the holocaust, families, and friends of survivors. Can only once a when things begin. A grain of sand is laid to another grain of sand. Before you know it, you have a mountain of sand in front of you. These are the words of haiti freed. She was a swedish hungarian, she is a swedish hungarian. A holocaust survivor who fought tireless efforts to fight racism continue to touch generations in my country. She recalls how lives changed during her up inking in romania upbringing in romania. Stepbystep, probably unnoticeable for most people in the beginning. We must never be immune to the sites. Our planet is under pressure. Fundamental human rights values are being challenged. Tolerance, equality, freedom of expression, social and economic rights are threatened in many parts of the world. With climate change, we experience an existential threat to all of us. We cannot take anything for granted. Governments and leaders carry a great responsibility to protect our rights. We must never stop reminding them. It really all begins with you and me. With the ability to see a grain of sand. And our actions matter every day. 75 years ago, one of the darkest chapters in Human History came to an end. As we turn new pages in the book of mankind, we must never forget the past. Antisemitism, xenophobia, intolerance, and racism. In the u. S. , in sweden, and elsewhere. We see them in the rhetoric of extremist groups to the right and to the left, in conspiracy theories on the internet, in fundamentalist environments, but also among ordinary men and women who cannot tell right from wrong and recognize the true face of prejudice and propaganda. In this situation, no emptiness, no moral vacuum can be allowed to exist. With unhesitating clarity, we must expose, confront, and combat antisemitism wherever it may appear, and no matter who expresses it. Education is key. Fading collecting memories, 20 years ago, the swedish government established a Living History Forum in sweden. An agency dedicated to preserving and telling the stories of Holocaust Survivors. Many children passed through his and listen to the voices. Many have been given the opportunity to travel to concentration temp sites to see for themselves what horror mankind is capable of if not stopped in time. In 2018, the swedish government decided a Holocaust Museum will be established in sweden. It will remind you generations of the values of tolerance. It will remind us of human dignity. And it will strengthen the link to the Global Community of remembrance. In this context, i am particularly pleased with the collaboration between sweden and the Holocaust Museum here in washington, d. C. Together, they have collected over 20 new testimonies from swedish jews, and european jews, all of them survivors who came to sweden after the war. Now, the files are stored and safeguarded for future generations. 75 years is both a very long time, but at the very same time, a very short time. We must take over the torch from the voices that go silent one by one. Therefore, the swedish Prime Minister has invited heads of state and government, researchers, experts in civil satiety from about 50 countries to a high level conference in october. It will be an opportunity to take concrete steps in the fight for holocaust remembrance and against antisemitism. One starting point of the forum are the stockholm declaration on education, remembrance, and research about the holocaust from the year 2000. The working definition on antisemitism by the International Holocaust remembrance alliance. Sweden endorses the working definition and the list of examples of antisemitism that serve as illustrations. Antisemitism is not a jewish problem, its a problem for all of us. On a day like this, he has deeply affected my own life and worldview. When i served as ambassador to hungary, i constantly came across places and people who had been saved by him, and where he had spent time. They bore witness of his life and his deeds. In 1944, as a 32yearold swedish businessman, he took on the Risky Mission to travel to the swedish legation in budapest in order to conduct a major rescue operation of jews threatened by persecution. By issuing passports, and hiring over 30 buildings in budapest, which he declared as swedish territory, and where jews could seek shelter, he saved thousands of lives. Many think even as many as 100,000 lives. He did not use traditional diplomacy, and he would have gotten nowhere. Everything from bribery to threats and blackmail. He took great personal risks. Even if we peel off some of the myths around this person, it remains a remarkable symbol of personal courage in the fight against atrocities of the second world war. In hindsight it is very clear the swedish government could have done much more to demand answers from the soviet union and their leadership. On the 17th of january in 1945, he did appear. His belief in every human beings right to life and dignity is reflected in swedens commitment to the defense of human rights principles throughout the world. It includes equal opportunities for all, the total abolition of all forms of torture, and freedom of thought and expression, just to mention a few. It includes the fight against antisemitism, racism, and intolerance, whatever shape they take. It begins at home and stretches beyond all borders. Today, we are gathered to greet ive with all of those who still mourn family members and loved ones. Your losses hours. The holocaust inflicted a wound on humanity that changed us forever. Above all, we have gathered to celebrate bravery, perseverance, and the resistance of the human spirit. The strength of freedom and love. It all begins with individual courage. Every day, every hour, we must be able to recognize a grain of sand. We must stand ready to act. Now it is my great honor to hand over to ms. Ruth cohen, survivor of the holocaust. Thank you so much for sharing this stage with me. It is truly an honor. Thank you. [applause] thank you madam ambassador. I was born in czechoslovakia in 1930 two a warm and loving family. My sister was seven years older than i, and my brother was 1 and a half years younger. Filled with extended family, many friends, and the opportunity to go to a great school. On march 8, 1938, czechoslovakia was partitioned. The next morning, my mother told us she spent the night worrying about the future. In fact, that day, my life began to change. My town became a part of hungary, and boys and girls could no longer study in the same classrooms. Instead of check number we learned hungarian. My fathers business was taken away immediately, and our nanny had to leave because she was no longer allowed to work for a jewish family. Shortly after, we learned members of my mothers family had been taken and murdered. My family officially went into mourning. In march 1944, hitler marched into hungry hitlers marched into hungry. We had to wear yellow stars. We were forced to move into a ghetto. Within days, the man who had previously tried to buy our house was allowed to just go in and empty it of all its contents. In midmay, more jews were marched to the brick factory, where the railroad was lined with cattle cars. We were ordered into the cars, my 83yearold grandmother in a wheelchair was taken onto a special car for invalids. That was the last time i saw her. My biology teacher, who i admired and adored, refused to climb the steps and was shot in front of everyone, and was there for all of us to see. It was horrific. My next memory is entering the barrack in houston which auschwitz. My sisters friend was our block out sister. She informed us our mother, brother, and little cousin who had come with us had already been murdered. Who could believe something so outrageous . But it was true. Miriam helped me get a job as a messenger girl. My sister became her assistant. When i had typhoid fever, people i had met as a messenger saved my life by hiding me when the nazis came to the infirmary to conduct selections. Sometimes in july, we got a message to be at a specific place where we might see our father. We went, saw him carrying blankets. We waived to each other and laughed with joy. We received the message from our uncle, who had come to auschwitz. We went to meet him at 4 00 at a spot near the barbed wire fence. We met him that day, and on several more days. He informed us that soon he would be taken to the gas chambers. Indeed, in a few days, a friend of us came to a our meeting spot and told us that uncle had been killed. There are no words to adequately describe the horror of that moment. At the end of october, the 500 women, including my sister and i, were taken to nierenberg to work at the plant. I was in a great deal of pain and unable to work. Shortly after, the factory was bombed and we were sent to another camp and another cement factory. Due to my severe back pain, i could not work anymore, and just stayed in my bed. Two days before the end of the war, we were in our barrack, and suddenly saw men running down the hill with bayonets. It was a group of white russians. I remember our excitement and how we jumped up on the bids to see the man running toward the camp. Most of the germans did not resist arrest by the partisans. But one officer tried to flee on his motorbike. He was shot in front of us. Most of us were shocked to see such cruelty. Our humanity was still intact. The protestants invited everyone who wanted to come to join them. Or be told to stay in the camp to wait for the americans who were close by. 100 women left with the partisans. Several hours later, the jewish women came back to the camp. They had been told the jews were not welcome by the partisans. Antisemitism was still alive and well. A month after liberation, my sister and i went back home, where our dad was waiting for anyone who survived. What a glorious reunion that was. However, i was quite sick. Six months later, i went to a hospital, where i spent a year being treated for tuberculosis of the spine. Including nine months during which i was immobile. Yet, how lucky i was again. Most people die from their ailment. My father and sister now live in prague and visited at least once a month. Other survivors from the Jewish Community also visited me, giving me renewed hope in humanity. A year after leaving the hospital, in april, 1944, my dad and i arrived at new york harbor. On the first night of passover, which also was my 18th birthday. The statute does liberty was there to greet us. Even now as i pass lady liberty, i feel emotional, always believing her message and hope. The holocaust teaches us about human nature. That there is great capacity for good as well as for evil. When one group in a society is singled out for persecution, other groups are likely to be targeted, too. In a small and large ways, each individual has the capacity to hurt or to heal, to savage or to save. Perhaps most important lessons to note at todays commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz is the holocaust did not begin with auschwitz, nor should it be solely defined by it. It began with words and a small acts, then infinitely larger ones that resulted in the murder of 6 million jews. For so many, auschwitz is a symbol of expression, and the expression of hatred and inhumanity. For me, it isnt this symbol, it was and is my reality. As i look around our world, i see groups like these being persecuted and subject to incarceration, violence, even genocide. Im scared of the alarming rise in antisemitism, violence, and deadly attacks on jews in the u. S. And elsewhere. It is appalling to see this stunning denial of the holocaust and how the experience of the survivors and victims are being distorted in the very places it happened. I am so disheartened and sadly convinced that we have not learned the lessons that this history, my history, teaches. I implore everyone, especially those in leadership positions, to be motivated by this history. Use your authority and influence to push back against those who perpetrate the worst instance in human behavior. Do what you can to ensure that our children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren dont face the same atrocities. We can do better, we must do better. Thank [applause] you. [applause] thank you. [applause] music [applause] good morning. I am a member of the metropolitan Police Department in the Nations Capital where i lead our Liaison Branch and among my duties, serve as liaison to our Jewish Community. I am joined by my brothers in service to this nation, colonel cap williams colonel kenneth williams, all three of us have been participants in this museums Leadership Program and training and in those programs members of law enforcement, the judiciary, and military, all organizations met to protect our democratic institutions, examined the will of those professionals had during the holocaust. The role of those professionals had during the holocaust. Case studies were explored to examine where professionals make choices that resulted in complicity to commit a genocide. Examining the history helps members today look at their own roles and responsibilities. It is hard to imagine the number 6 million, but harder to imagine that that number represents individuals, not just an individual number. Because of that, we today remember those, those 6 million as individuals and as a group. So they will not be lost to history. We remember them for their sake, but also for the sake of our own humanity. Sophie hess, julie bunn we and, take lament dulls, bertha friedman, the friedman family, the schwartz family, richard broder, david josephson, roy cohen, rachel degroot, sophia schwab, meyer degroot, isaac dreimer, rivka gruber, sarah gruber, isaac rosenstein, helena herskovitz, jacob herskovitz, slagle, agnes feigle, marianne feigle, clara and jacob with mr. And their daughters rogue or, freda, and rachel. Serena matzoh, annetta, keita frieder, roselle frieder, moser andra day, esther, rosa laszlo, miklosz lieberman, walter coulster, elsa harboly. Era and mende nln family, David Goldfarb and family, arpad grumbled, laszlo green vault, lussier and louisiana code which, Silva Deutsche bash, joseph rosendahl, regina rosenthal, sharon rosendahl, johan israel, astrid israel, eddie gompertz pollack, manfred horwitz, felix lefkowitz, eva moonser, john, israel blackman, mullica white robe, gustav tick, andre court house ebstein, david tomczak, haber kaufman, tisha will. Hirsch epstein, malta epstein, miriam epstein, walt beerbohm, esther spitzer, hannah wax, leah wax, rachel freed, joseph freed, samuel bester, adolph wrong felt, so be marcus stein Sophie Marcus stein, carla stein, the ok roots leo hey roots, leah vogel, jacob wise, hannah weis, esther weiss, mirriam weiss. We would like to invite a holocaust survivor to come forward to lead the pray we offer kadish as a prayer of remembrance, the words, we affirm our faith in a higher power, the power that endows us with the ability to learn from the past and choose good over evil. Please rise if you are able and remain standing following the kadish for a moment of silence as we remember all victims of the holocaust and all victims of bigotry and hate. [speaking foreign [speaking Foreign Language [speaking Foreign Language you may be seated. I would like to invite a holocaust survivor Holocaust Survivors to join together with the Diplomatic Community to light memorial candles. Following them, we invite all of our guests to light a candle. music coming up holocaust fibers unveil findings about world war ii, within 1948 found on not to war criminals. New findings on the relationship between the pathology of nazi regime and the relation of the holocaust to world war ii. This was part of the world war ii museums annual conference in new orleans. This year the was the