Former Israeli president links Auschwitz ceremony to October 7 attacks

Taking part in the candle-lighting ceremony, part of the build-up to Holocaust Memorial day on Saturday, were former prime ministers of France, Greece and Sweden Manuel Valls, George Andreas Papandreou and Stefan Lofven, and former presidents of Montenegro and Slovenia Milo Dukanovic and Borut Pahor.

A second group led by Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli also lit candles. It included Seán Ó Fearghaíl, president of the Irish parliament, and Věra Kovářová, vice-president of the parliament of Czechia.

Delegation of European heads of state and journalists in front of the main gate at Birkenau, January 23, 2024[Missing Credit]

The ceremony, taking place in very cold weather and light rain, followed a morning tour of the death camp.

Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs of the Netherlands led attendees in reciting Kaddish.

EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said: “If you would like to ensure that the Holocaust never happens again, it is only if leaders like you take the responsibility to not remain silent.

“Dear leaders, we urge you today, we are begging you, when you go back to your countries, please think about this place.”

Wreaths with each country's name at the International Monument to the Victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp, January 23, 2024[Missing Credit]

At the end of the proceedings, 25 senior representatives of European countries and a representative from the European Union took turns to lay wreaths at the International Monument to the Victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp.