
A Holocaust survivor has told the Prince of Wales about the 'hell on earth' she endured while being experimented on by notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Charles met Marta Wise, who as a 10-year-old girl was sent to Auschwitz and subjected to inhumane treatment.

Remarkably a photograph exists of the Czechoslovakian Mrs Wise standing with a group of other children behind a barbed wire fence when the concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.

She told Charles, who is at the World Holocaust Forum to mark 75 years since the camp's liberation, that she was among the prisoners subjected to cruel treatment at the hands of Josef Mengele, a notorious Nazi doctor dubbed the Angel of Death.

She said: 'By a miracle we survived. It was hell on earth. Mengele was a particular devil. Our blood was taken. Jewish blood was no good, but it was good enough to take for the German army.

'He used to inject us with things. We had no idea what they were. You could be in absolute agony. He was a monster. There is no other way to describe him.'

Prince Charles was joined by Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at the museum where he also met with Holocaust survivor George Shefi. Mr Shefi, a Berliner whose mother was killed at Auschwitz, fled to England at the age of eight where he took refuge during the war.

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Prince Charles meets with George Shefi and Marta Wise this morning. Mrs Wise was pictured behind a barbed wire fence with other child captives of the Nazis at Auschwitz when the concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army on 27th January 1945

Children, including Marta Weiss (later Wise), who Prince Charles met today, behind the barbed wire fence at Auschwitz-Birkenau on the day of the camp's liberation by the Red Army, 27th January 1945. Left to right, the children are: Tomy Schwarz (later Shacham), Miriam Ziegler, Paula Lebovics (front), Ruth Webber, Berta Weinhaber (later Bracha Katz), Erika Winter (later Dohan), Marta Weiss (later Wise), Eva Weiss (later Slonim), Gabor Hirsch (just visible behind Eva Weiss), Gabriel Neumann, Robert Schlesinger (later Shmuel Schelach), Eva Mozes Kor, and Miriam Mozes Zeiger

Prince Charles greets guests as he arrives for a reception for Holocaust survivors at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem this morning

Prince Charles will today warn how 'hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart' when he joins world leaders in Israel to commemorate the Holocaust and mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (pictured: meeting with Israel's President Reuven Rivlin at his official residence in the capital on Thursday morning)

The Prince of Wales meets President Reuven Rivlin at his official residence in Jerusalem on the first day of his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel's president welcomed Charles at the start of his first official tour to the country - telling him 'we still expect your mother to come'.

The Prince of Wales speaks to the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday morning at his official residence in the capital, later today the royal will speak at the World Holocaust Forum

Charles meets Holocaust survivors George Shefi and Marta Wise during a reception at the Israel museum in Jerusalem on Thursday

The Prince of Wales meets with Holocaust survivors George Shefi and Marta Wise ahead of the World Holocaust Forum today

Mrs Wise, now 85, spent 25 minutes with the prince - far longer than most one-to-one encounters on a royal visit.

She said: 'He was very interested in how it was in Auschwitz and how we managed to survive.

'He was very sympathetic. He came across as genuinely interested, not just doing it for the sake of it.'

Born in Bratislava, then Czechoslovakia, Mrs Wise and her older sister were sent by their parents to live with a non-Jewish family and pretend they were orphaned refugees.

But in October 1944 they were betrayed to the Nazis, who offered large rewards to anyone who reported Jews.

She said: 'Twenty-seven fully armed soldiers came to pick up two little girls. We were put into detention, and from there we were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and into Mengele's experimental barracks.

'By a miracle we survived. It was hell on earth. Mengele was a particular devil. Our blood was taken. Jewish blood was no good, but it was good enough to take for the German army.

'He used to inject us with things. We had no idea what they were. You could be in absolute agony. He was a monster. There is no other way to describe him.'

After the war she moved to Australia where she became a historian of the Holocaust. She married Harold Wise and had three children before moving to Israel in 1998.

The girl who survived Auschwitz and went on to meet Prince Charles The photograph of Marta Wise standing behind the barbed wire fence at Auschwitz has become one of the most iconic of those from the Holocaust. On the day the Red Army liberated the camp in January 1945 Mrs Wise, a ten-year-old Czechoslovakian Jew, weighed just 37lbs. 'That I survived and my sister survived is beyond me. I've never been able to work it out,' said Mrs Wise, 85, in an interview on the 70th anniversary of the liberation. 'To me, as far as I am concerned, the 27th of January is my second birthday ... because that's when we got another lease at life.' On arrival at The Israel Museum, Charles was to be greeted byIsaac Molcho, Chairman of the Board of Directors. His Royal Highness was also to be accompanied by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (pictured: the Prince of Wales meets with Holocaust survivors) Mrs Wise and her sister arrived at the camp in November 1944, when it was already in its waning days. Mrs Wise, who was blond, lived under an assumed Aryan identity with false papers throughout the war until she was finally caught on her 10th birthday and taken to the Sered labor camp in Slovakia. A few weeks later she was sent to Auschwitz and had the number A-27202 tattooed on her arm. There, Mrs Wise and her sister were put in the medical experiment block of the brutal Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and subjected to his torture alongside twins and dwarfs. She said they received various injections that either made them pass out or left them writhing in pain. Because Mrs Wise had green eyes, she was spared one of his more sinister tests — an attempt to transform the dark eyes of Jews and gypsies into a more blue, or Aryan, complexion. The lucky ones died immediately, she said, while others went blind and suffered in agony. Prince Charles, speaks with Holocaust survivor Marta Wise, and George Shefi, whose mother died at Auschwitz, during a reception at the Israel Museum 'We don't know exactly what kind of injections he gave to us because when he escaped, before the Russians came, he took all his so-called medical experimentation notes,' she said, pausing. 'He was a monster. When he smiled you knew he was the most sadistic ... and he was going to do something terribly sadistic.' Before the last Nazis left, Mrs Wise said they gathered her and some of the other remaining prisoners, locked them inside an enclosure and set fire around them. 'It was a totally blue sky and out of the blue, suddenly just as the fire was approaching to burn us, it started to rain and the rain put out the fire,' she recalled. She said the Russian liberators were kind to her and shared all their meager supplies. 'He gave me a bottle of vodka,' she said, smiling. 'That's all he had.' In 1948, she moved to Australia where she married and had three daughters. Later in life she moved to Israel where she now volunteers as a guide at Yad Vashem and spends time with her 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. On Jan. 27, 2005, she posed before a large mural of the original photo at Auschwitz along with six other survivors, each standing beneath the image of themselves from 60 years earlier. 'I don't know how we survived, how any single person survived in that climate,' she said. 'That is a miracle to me and that's a miracle that I consider myself very lucky that I did survive. And why I survived and others didn't I don't know. I am not God.' Reporting by AP Advertisement

Mr Shefi, 88 - born George Spiegelglas in Berlin - was sent to Britain by his mother in July 1939 at the age of seven, unable to speak a word of English. He lived with an English family, then moved in with a Jewish family.

He said: 'I went to church for three years, crossed myself, then the next week I could not turn on the light or ride my bicycle on Shabbat or anything.'

Later in the war he went to join relatives in the US. Afterwards he moved to Israel, where he became an engineer.

He welcomed the presence of Charles and other world leaders in Israel to honour Holocaust victims, at the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.

But he said it would be meaningless without further action: 'I think it is very good. The question is, what will you do with it afterwards? Whatever they do here, if it is just forgotten tomorrow - that's not what it was meant to do.'

He said he had spoken many times in Germany about the Holocaust, telling children: 'You are not to blame for what your grandfathers did. I am here to tell you it happened, and to convince you not to let it start again. You are responsible to me to prevent it happening again.'

This afternoon Charles gave an address at the forum attended by other world leaders, warning that 'hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart' and that society must remain 'resolute in resisting words and acts of violence'.

He added: 'But we must never forget that they are also our story: a story of incomprehensible inhumanity, from which all humanity can and must learn.

'For that an evil cannot be described does not mean that it cannot be defeated. That it cannot be fully understood does not mean that it cannot be overcome.'

Prince Charles (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) speaks during the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron during the Fifth World Holocaust Forum on January 23, 2020 in Jerusalem, Israel

From left: US Vice President Mike Pence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's prince Charles during the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem

In an awkward moment after the Prince of Wales' speech, he looked straight at US Vice President Pence and declined to shake his hand while shaking those of other world leaders either side of him

Charles highlighted the story of cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen before moving to Britain after the Second World War, and co-founded the English Chamber Orchestra, which the prince supports as patron.

He used the Hebrew for Holocaust - Shoah - when he added: 'Just as each life lost in the Shoah stands for all the millions who died, each inspirational story such as that of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch stands for the strength of spirit, the unparalleled courage, the determined defiance, of the very best of humanity when confronted with the very worst.'

He also spoke about the 'immense pride' his family feels for Israel's formal recognition of the actions of the Duke of Edinburgh's mother, who provided refuge for a Jewish family during the war.

Charles was applauded after he said: 'For my own part, I have long drawn inspiration from the selfless actions of my dear grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece, who in 1943, in Nazi-occupied Athens, saved a Jewish family by taking them into her home and hiding them.'

Princess Alice of Battenberg and Greece was the mother-in-law of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. A devout Christian, she died in London in 1969 and had asked to be buried in Jerusalem, next to her aunt, who like Alice had become a nun and founded a convent.

In 1993, the princess received the highest honour Yad Vashem bestows on non-Jews for hiding three members of the Cohen family in her palace in Athens during World War Two.

Charles added: 'My grandmother, who is buried on the Mount of Olives, has a tree planted in her name here at Yad Vashem and is counted as one of the Righteous Among the Nations ... a fact which gives me and my family immense pride.'

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, plant a tree outside the presidential residence in Jerusalem today

The Prince of Wales (centre) and Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (left) during a visit to the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

Charles earlier today alongside Israel's President Reuven Rivlin and Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at the president's officials residence where the royal planted a tree

The Prince of Wales plants a tree after a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin (left) at his official residence in Jerusalem on the first day of his visit to Israel

Horrific experiments of the Nazi Angel of Death Immaculately dressed, it was Josef Mengele who greeted doomed arrivals at the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz, in occupied Poland. With a flick of his gloved hands, the supreme arbiter of life and death would consign terrified prisoners either to work or to death in the gas chambers. But many, especially twins, were condemned to an altogether more diabolical fate; they became guinea pigs upon his operating table as he pursued his berserk quest to clone blue-eyed Aryan supermen. Most of his victims died in terrible pain without anaesthetic. Dr. Josef Mengele, an SS physician from 1943 to 1945, was known as the 'Angel of Death' for overseeing gruesome experiments at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland Mengele, a medical graduate from Frankfurt University, used his knowledge in a sickening manner at Auschwitz, where he performed experiments from 1943 to 1945. Although prisoners transferred to his wing to be studied escaped the gas chambers and were well fed, they often ultimately met an even more painful death. Mengele regularly performed surgery without anaesthetic and would obtain bodies to work on simply by injecting chloroform into inmates' hearts while they slept, which would kill them in seconds. The so-called Angel of Death was on the Allied commanders' most-wanted list from 1944, but he escaped to South America and was never found He was most interested in heredity and once tried to change the colour of children's eyes by injecting chemicals directly into them. Twins held a particular fascination for him and it's estimated that he examined around 3,000 - but only 100 pairs survived. Pregnant women were also singled out. He was known to have performed vivisections on them before consigning them to the death chambers. The so-called Angel of Death was on the Allied commanders' most-wanted list from 1944, but he escaped to South America and was never found, despite the best efforts of private investigators and the Israeli secret service, Mossad. He died in 1979 after suffering a stroke while swimming and thirteen years later, DNA tests proved his identity beyond doubt. Advertisement

Charles' address at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem, was heard by guests including US Vice President Mike Pence, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In an awkward moment after the Prince of Wales' speech, he looked straight at Pence and declined to shake his hand while shaking those of other world leaders on either side of him.

Pence looked back at Charles and after the prince had moved on to shake hands with Netanyahu, patted him on the shoulder and smiled.

The three-hour-long event - called 'Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism' - looks to project a united front in commemorating the genocide of European Jews amid a global spike in anti-Jewish violence in the continent and around the world.

Charles said: 'The lessons of the Holocaust are searingly relevant to this day. Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart, still tell new lies, adopt new disguises, and still seek new victims.

'All too often, language is used which turns disagreement into dehumanisation. Words are used as badges of shame to mark others as enemies, to brand those who are different as somehow deviant.

'All too often, virtue seems to be sought through verbal violence. All too often, real violence ensues, and acts of unspeakable cruelty are still perpetrated around the world against people for reasons of their religion, their race or their beliefs.

'Knowing, as we do, the darkness to which such behaviour leads, we must be vigilant in discerning these ever-changing threats; we must be fearless in confronting falsehoods and resolute in resisting words and acts of violence. And we must never rest in seeking to create mutual understanding and respect.'

Earlier Charles met with Israel's President Reuven Rivlin at his official residence, Beit HaNassi, in Jerusalem this morning ahead of the World Holocaust Forum.

Israel's president welcomed Charles at the start of his first official tour to the country - telling him 'we still expect your mother to come'.

The heir to the throne sat down for talks with President Rivlin at his official residence straight after the president's meeting with the king of Spain, and just before he met Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The statesman told the prince that Israel 'deeply appreciates' his attendance at the World Holocaust Forum gathering, which he said was aimed at fighting racism and fascism today as well as recalling the past.

Before the talks began Mr Rivlin told Charles: 'It starts with the Jewish people but we never know where it ends. Everyone needs to be very careful. With this gathering we show that when we are united we can fight this phenomenon.'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has invited Charles to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the prince will tour Bethlehem and sit down for talks with Mr Abbas.

Scott Furssedonn-Wood, Charles's deputy private secretary, said of the World Holocaust Forum: 'The prince is honoured to be among the small number of international leaders who have been invited to address the event and have the opportunity on behalf of the United Kingdom to honour the memory of all those who were lost in the Holocaust.'

The Prince of Wales with Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (right) after a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin (left) at his official residence in Jerusalem

Prince Charles peers down at a cat as it appears in President Rivlin's (left) residential gardens during a tree planting ceremony at which Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (right) was also present

Prince Charles at President Rivlin's residence in Jerusalem on Thursday ahead of the forum this afternoon in the Israeli capital

The Prince of Wales is flanked by Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, to his right, and members of the board of the Israel Museum during a tour through the historical centre in Jerusalem on Thursday

Prince Charles, centre, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, second right, visit a rebuilt synagogue in Jerusalem on Thursday

Prince Charles, centre left, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, centre right, visit a rebuilt synagogue in Jerusalem on Thursday

Charles with President Rivlin earlier today (left) and signing the guest book at the official residence (right). Today's event marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz under the title 'Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism' is held to preserve the memory of the Holocaust atrocities by Nazi Germany during World War II

The Prince of Wales (second right) and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (third left) during a visit to the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on the first day of his visit to the region

Prince of Wales visited the Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel Museum which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish religious manuscripts found in the Qumran Caves in the Judaean Desert

The Prince of Wales visited the Shrine of the Book as well as model of the Second Temple of Jerusalem and the landmark museum roof

Charles's visit has added significance as the Queen has never made an official visit to Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories during her 67-year reign.

The ministerial jet Voyager is believed to be undergoing scheduled maintenance and the prince has travelled to the Middle East by chartered plane.

Mr Furssedonn-Wood said: 'We always look at a range of options, we take a number of factors into account when we decide how to travel, we weigh up things like cost of course with environmental impact as you'd expect, but also efficiency of time, size of delegation and crucially safety and security.'

Charles and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Israel Museum Isaac Molho (third left) arrive prior to a reception for Holocaust survivors at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

The Prince of Wales with President Reuven Rivlin (left) at his official residence in Jerusalem on the first day of his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories

Prince Charles, speaks with Holocaust survivor Marta Wise and George Shefi at the Israel Museum on Thursday morning

The Prince of Wales shakes hands with Israel's President Reuven as they are surrounded by other officials in Jerusalem on Thursday morning

The Prince of Wales meets President Reuven Rivlin at his official residence in Jerusalem on the first day of his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories

Prince Charles, second left, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, right, visit the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Thursday Jan. 23, 2020. Prince Charles is among dozens of presidents, heads of state and dignitaries who have descended upon the city to attend the largest-ever gathering focused on commemorating the Holocaust and combating modern-day anti-Semitism

He highlighted a number of recent trips, including Charles's official visits to Japan and India, when he flew on commercial airlines, but for this tour, he said, scheduled flights could not satisfy all of their considerations.

During his first day in the Holy Land, the prince will also meet Holocaust survivors and be joined by the UK's Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis.

While in the Middle East, Charles is also likely to pay his respects at the resting place of his grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, in Jerusalem's Church of St Mary Magdalene.

US Vice President Mike Pence (L) and his wife Karen disembark from a plane upon their arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport on Thursday to attend the World Holocaust memorial which marks the 75th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport on January 23

French President Emmanuel Macron prays at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday night

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (front L) looks behind him as he stands next to (L to R) French President Emmanuel Macron (front-2nd L), his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin, and German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as they pose with other heads of state for a group photograph following a dinner reception at the Israeli President's official residence in Jerusalem, on Wednesday night

She was honoured by the Jewish people for hiding and saving the lives of Jews in Nazi-occupied Athens during the Second World War.

The prince's visit - his first official tour of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories - follows a similar visit made by his son, the Duke of Cambridge, who visited Israel and the Palestinian areas in 2018.

Charles has made previous trips to Israel, travelling to Jerusalem to attend the funerals of President Shimon Peres in 2016 and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

Prince Charles' full speech at the Yad Vashem memorial museum: Survivors of the Shoah, President Rivlin, Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a particular honour, although one of the most solemn kind, to be present here today, and, on behalf of the United Kingdom to commemorate all those so tragically lost in the Shoah. To come to this sacred place, Yad Vashem – 'A Memorial and a Name' – is to be faced with that for which no name, no words and no language can ever possibly do justice. The magnitude of the genocide that was visited upon the Jewish people defies comprehension and can make those of us who live in the shadow of those indescribable events feel hopelessly inadequate. The scale of the evil was so great, the impact so profound, that it threatens to obscure the countless individual human stories of tragedy, loss and suffering of which it was comprised. That is why places like this, and events like this, are so vitally important. Prince Charles delivers a speech during the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem For many of you here, and for Jewish people across the globe, those stories are your stories: whether you witnessed and somehow endured the appalling barbarity of the Holocaust personally; or whether it touched your lives through the experience of your loved ones, or through the loss of parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts or other family you were never able to know. But we must never forget that they are also our story: a story of incomprehensible inhumanity, from which all humanity can and must learn. For that an evil cannot be described does not mean that it cannot be defeated. That it cannot be fully understood, does not mean that it cannot be overcome. And so it is of particular significance that we should gather here, in Israel, where so many of those who survived the Holocaust sought and found refuge, and built a new future for themselves and this country. In the same way, it has been a singular privilege, throughout my life, to have met so many Holocaust survivors who were welcomed to the United Kingdom and who began new lives there, contributing immeasurably to the welfare of our country, and the world, in the years that followed. I have such inspiring memories of remarkable people such as Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who somehow survived both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen before moving to Britain after the war. There, as a wonderfully talented cellist, she co-founded the English Chamber Orchestra, of which I am proud to have been Patron for the past forty-three years. On her arm she bears the number by which tyranny had sought to make her less than human. Yet, through her music, she reminds us of the greatest beauty of which we are capable. Over the years, she has shared her story bravely and powerfully, determined that some good might come from the unspeakable evil she endured and overcame. From the horror, she brought harmony, healing and hope. Just as each life lost in the Shoah stands for all the millions who died, each inspirational story such as that of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, stands for the strength of spirit, the unparalleled courage, the determined defiance, of the very best of humanity when confronted with the very worst. For my own part, I have long drawn inspiration from the selfless actions of my dear grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece, who in 1943, in Nazi-occupied Athens, saved a Jewish family by taking them into her home and hiding them. Prince Charles arriving for the event this afternoon in the Israeli capital My grandmother, who is buried on the Mount of Olives, has a tree planted in her name here at Yad Vashem, and is counted as one of the Righteous among the Nations – ḥasidei ummot ha`olam – a fact which gives me, and my family, immense pride. Ladies and Gentlemen, almost a lifetime has passed since the horror of the Holocaust unfolded on the European continent, and those who bore witness to it are sadly ever fewer. We must, therefore, commit ourselves to ensuring that their stories live on, to be known and understood by each successive generation. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch has said: 'there is a risk that the Holocaust will be placed under a glass bubble just like the Napoleonic Wars or the Thirty Years War. But if we don't make the connection between memories of past atrocities and the present, there isn't any point to it.' She is, it seems to me, absolutely right. The Holocaust must never be allowed to become simply a fact of history: we must never cease to be appalled, nor moved by the testimony of those who lived through it. Their experience must always educate, and guide, and warn us. The lessons of the Holocaust are searingly relevant to this day. Seventy-five years after the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart, still tell new lies, adopt new disguises, and still seek new victims. All too often, language is used which turns disagreement into dehumanisation. Words are used as badges of shame to mark others as enemies, to brand those who are different as somehow deviant. All too often, virtue seems to be sought through verbal violence. All too often, real violence ensues, and acts of unspeakable cruelty are still perpetrated around the world against people for reasons of their religion, their race or their beliefs. Knowing, as we do, the darkness to which such behaviour leads, we must be vigilant in discerning these ever-changing threats; we must be fearless in confronting falsehoods and resolute in resisting words and acts of violence. And we must never rest in seeking to create mutual understanding and respect. We must tend the earth of our societies so that the seeds of division cannot take root and grow. And we must never forget that every human being is B'tselem Elokim, 'in the image of God,' and even a single human life is ke-olam malei, 'like an entire universe.' The Holocaust was an appalling Jewish tragedy, but it was also a universal human tragedy, and one which we compound if we do not heed its lessons. On this day, in this place, and in memory of the millions who perished in the Shoah, let us recommit ourselves to tolerance and respect; and to ensuring that those who lived through this darkness will forever, as in the words of the prophet Isaiah, be 'a light unto the nations,' to guide the generations that follow. Advertisement

More than one million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Six million Jews died in the Holocaust (pictured: watchtowers of former Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex are pictured in Oswiecim, Poland earlier this month)