Jewish Life in Europe: Culture, the Holocaust and Remembrance

The history of the Jewish people is the history of Europe.

One century ago, almost ten million Europeans were

Jewish.

There were more Jewish people in Europe than in the rest of the world

combined.

And it was a blessing for Europe.

Our European way of life wouldn't be the same without Jewish

culture and science.

Europe wouldn't be the same without Gustav Mahler

and Marc Chagall,

without Rahel Hirsch and Albert Einstein,

without Italo Svevo

and Hannah Arendt.

And it wouldn't be the same without the Jewish values

of personal responsibility and social justice.

The Nazis tried to wipe out all of this.

They killed six million European Jews,

the greatest tragedy in human history,

the greatest shame for Germany and Europe.

Today, we must keep telling the story of the

Holocaust,

and we must also remember the story of Jewish

life in Europe.

This is why we have decided to co-finance a new

section at the World Holocaust Remembrance

Center,

Yad Vashem,

on Jewish life in Europe before the Shoah.

The importance of our Jewish roots has too often been

forgotten, downplayed,

or even intentionally erased.

It is time to show that Jewish culture is European

culture.

This was true one hundred years ago,

and it is still true today.

Europe must value its own Jewishness

so that Jewish life in Europe can thrive again.