Costa Rica commemorates the Holocaust in the Legislative Assembly

Costa Rica, January 27th, 2009

On January 27th, AMISRAEL together with the Israeli Embassy in Costa Rica held a special event in celebration of the Jewish Holocaust in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica.

Congress members Mr. Guyon Massey Mora and Ms. Ophelia Taitelbaum joined in this act to pay a special tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, who lost their lives brutally and tragically in that terrible episode that occurred during World War II.

"The main objective of this event is to remember the past so that the errors that were committed against the people of Israel are not repeated, and to avoid reliving this terrifying scenes", said Mr. Guyon Massey.

A while later, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Holocaust victims. After, Mr. Julio Kierszenson Mamet, a survivor of the genocide spoke a little of that historic event he witnessed.

The Ambassador of Israel in Costa Rica, Mr. Ehud Moseh Eitam, said that this dark and sad page of history can be defined as part of a deliberate program of extermination that resulted in the systematic and industrialized murder. "The main reason to meet here today is to remember this event and to reject any denial of this historical fact, so that it will never happen again. To learn that extremism in any way is incompatible with peaceful coexistence and with life” he said.

In her speech, Ms. Ophelia Taitelbaum showed that this event is a permanent reminder to humanity that there should not be intolerant, because so many horrible things can derive from it. "It is a call for acceptance of differences and to remind people that intolerance is a crushing feeling," she said.

In his turn, the AMISRAEL delegate in Costa Rica, Kenneth Sánchez Rodríguez, reminded that it is very important to support his country in the remembrance of these historical facts so that they never happen again. "Today we seek to achieve these small actions to sensitize the population about the importance of living in a culture of peace and non-violence, recognizing that the most important to a free people is the respect for human rights" he said.

The event ended with a symbolic ceremony in which boys and girls from the Agents of Peace Movement handed six candles to representatives of different organizations. The candles were then lit in remembrance of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust.

Text and photographs: AMISRAEL a Costa Rica
Edition: Carmen Salzano e Aline Lima
English Version: Patrícia Mamede

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