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Memorial Cobblestones commemorating Holocaust victims

Maribor, 13.7.2012  |  press release


President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended a ceremony on the unveiling of the 'Memorial Cobblestones', where he symbolically laid the last cobblestone commemorating Holocaust victims in Maribor (photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended a ceremony on the unveiling of the 'Memorial Cobblestones', where he delivered an address and laid the last cobblestone commemorating the Holocaust victims in Maribor. In his speech, the President of the Republic described the unveiling of the Memorial Cobblestones as a deeply symbolic event, a symbol of remembrance and hope.

He pointed out that Slovenia was proud of Maribor as the European Capital of Culture and that Slovenians liked to take pride in being a nation formed through culture. In this respect, all aspects, messages and tasks imposed by such heritage need to be taken into account. President Türk emphasised that today we live in a Europe of prosperity, but also in a Europe of crisis and uncertainty. He stressed that today especially there is a need to foster a memory of the most tragic, fatal and criminal events in Europe’s history with a particular sensitivity in order to truly recognise the meaning of our cultural messages for a better European future.

The unveiling of the Memorial Cobblestones is an opportunity to remember the Holocaust, which President Türk described as the worst crime that has occurred in the recent history of Europe and one which cannot be compared to any other crime in the recent past or present. He stressed that one should always think about how it was brought about and whether the dangers that had found such a massive, tragic and criminal expression in the Holocaust during World War II had finally been avoided. The President also reminded us that Slovenia had not been exempt from these events and that the Slovenian Jewish community had also been affected. “Wemust always preserve this memory,” he added.

President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended a ceremony on the unveiling of the 'Memorial Cobblestones', where he symbolically laid the last cobblestone commemorating Holocaust victims in Maribor (photo: Stanko Gruden/STA)“The future of Europe is not guaranteed,” stated the President. As he explained, European Rationalism and the Enlightenment had also created a platform for an explicit abuse of power. This is why there can never be a guarantee for the future without serious efforts being made. This is why, according to President Türk, culture should be understood with its full humanistic mission, which should represent a strong defence wall simultaneously against any kind of abuse and against the possibility of repeating the crimes of the past.

Today, we cannot afford to be blithe or indifferent to the manifestations of extremism, which, while not being mass phenomena, still require our joint action to combat them. He added that hope needed to be awakened in Europe and that trust in ourselves and in the future needed to be ensured in order to prevent extremism from expanding further. Like many times in the past, many forms of extremism are still focused on the Jewish community, noted the President, as he stressed that all this should be vigorously countered and that any opportunity should be used to express opposition to extremism.

The best possible protection is the strong defence wall of our culture and our common humanism, and this is also the object of today's commemoration, the President stressed. He said that Slovenia should ensure that any form of contemporary extremism is stopped and prevented from spreading, that there should be an end to intolerance, and that the country should never again allow itself to become exposed to risks that could lead to serious cases of discrimination and violence. President Türk expressed his thanks to the Municipality of Maribor, to the authors of the programmes within the European Capital of Culture project and, in particular, to the Jewish community and to the artist that had created the concept of this event for their significant contribution to the building of our common culture.
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