JLTV To Broadcast Tribute Special of Today's
65th Anniversary Liberation Ceremonies
JLTV will broadcast portions of the 65th anniversary liberation remembrance ceremonies being held in Poland and at the United Nations. The following are excerpts from today's videotaped message by President Barak Obama. This message will be shown at the Auschwitz-Birkenau event and also broadcast on JLTV in its entirety:
...and to you-the survivors. The perpetrators of that crime tried to annihilate the entire Jewish people. But they failed. Because 65 years ago today, when the gates flew open, you were still standing. And every day that you have lived, every child and grandchild that your families have brought into the world with love, every day the sun rises on the Jewish state of Israel-that is the ultimate rebuke to the ignorance and hatred of this place.
So to those of you who have come back today, I say, no, you are not "former prisoners." You are living memorials. Living memorials to the loved ones you left here. And to the spirit we must strive to uphold in our time-not simply to bear witness, but to bear a burden. The burden of seeing our common humanity; of resisting anti-Semitism and ignorance in all its forms; of refusing to become bystanders to evil, whenever and wherever it rears its ugly face.
Let that be the true meaning of Auschwitz. Let that be the liberation we celebrate today-liberation of the spirit that, if embraced, can lead us all-individuals and as nations-to be among the righteous.
May God bless you all, and may God bless the memory of all those who rest here.
The President's complete video message is included in this bulletin.
The United Nations event also coincides with the release of a new Israel Poste stamp commemorating this moment in time. The special stamp was presented by the head of Israel's Postal Authority, Avi Hochman.
Participating at the UN with an historic presentation is the American Society of Yad Vashem and its president, Eli Zborowski. Yad Vashem is sponsoring an exhibit at the UN focusing on the Holocaust.
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