Approximately 100 camp survivors were among those taking part at the memorial ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.

“It was a beautiful ceremony, with an excellent programme. It was particularly moving to listen to the story of one of the Theresienstadt camp survivors. He told us that we must never forget, but also reminded us how important it is to reconcile ourselves with what happened,” said President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen.

 

Transit camp

Theresienstadt, or Terezin, as the town is called in Czech, was a transit camp. Many of those who arrived there were subsequently sent to Auschwitz. This was the fate of around 144,000 people.

During the ceremony, cantor Joseph Malovany and choir sang the elegy Rachel’s Song, about a mother who mourns over her dead child. Another highlight was Ben Kingsley’s powerful address.

The President of the Storting in front of the Zalud Trio, who opened the memorial ceremony in the former concentration camp Theresienstadt. Photo: Storting.

Working party

On Tuesday morning, the President of the Storting took part in a round-table conference for those presidents of parliament who had participated in the “Let My People Live” Conference in Prague on the Monday and Tuesday before the memorial ceremony.

The round-table conference resolved to set up a working party whose remit is to put forward specific proposals about the contribution parliaments can make in the fight against anti-Semitism. The initiator behind the working party is Martin Schultz, President of the European Parliament.

“Such a working party, with its ability to concretize initiatives and facilitate the exchange of experience, is important. All European nations must stand together on such questions,” said Mr Thommessen.