The EAJC President presented the Jerusalem monument project in memory of the victims of the Siege of Leningrad in Moscow

On January 29, Moscow marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The central event took place at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. Among the guests were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, President of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Michael Mirilashvili, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia Alexander Boroda, and Director of the Yad Vashem Museum Avner Shalev.

Michael Mirilashvili presented the guests with a monument project dedicated to the victims of the Siege of Leningrad, the installation of which is supported and funded by the EAJC: "In the current year of 2018, we mark the 75th anniversary of the successful completion of Operation Spark, during which the blockade of Leningrad was broken. It is our duty, as descendants of the heroes of the besieged city who bravely defended their freedom under the threat of enemy invasion, to preserve the memory of the heroism of the people of Leningrad. This year, the monument to the victims of the siege will be erected in the Holy Land of Israel, in Jerusalem. This is not merely a monument, but a symbol of the shared destiny of our nations, recalling those terrible times when our grandfathers and great-grandfathers united to defeat a brutal enemy. It is a symbol of hope."

The Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, addressed the assembly: "The day before yesterday, the global community marked a solemn date – Holocaust Remembrance Day. During these days, we commemorate the most horrific act of genocide in human history, remembering the six million men, women, and children who were shot, gassed, starved, and burned in crematorium ovens solely for being born Jewish. When reading the memoirs of the military personnel who liberated the Nazi death camps, or when listening to the testimonies of the survivors who miraculously escaped those camps, one is filled with horror. It is natural to feel the urge to remain silent, as it is too terrible to speak of. However, we must speak out – to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated. We must remember not only the victims, but also the heroes who defeated Nazism. It is not by chance that we observe Holocaust Remembrance Day not on the day the pogroms and mass killings began, but on the day the Red Army liberated the largest 'death factory', the Auschwitz concentration camp."

Following the official ceremony, the guests visited the museum's new exhibition dedicated to the Sobibor uprising. It is worth noting that last year, a major international controversy erupted after Poland initiated a decision to exclude Russia from participating in the project to establish a new museum on the site of the former concentration camp. This decision provoked outrage in Israel, as well as among Jewish communities in Europe and the former USSR.

In this regard, the President of the EAJC, Mirilashvili, stated: "There is no room for the revision of history. Russia must be a part of the Sobibor project. The Red Army played a decisive role in the victory over Nazi Germany and the liberation of the death camps, and modern Russia has contributed significantly to the advancement of Holocaust history studies. The politicization of our shared history for temporary interests is unacceptable. Our duty to the generation that defeated fascism is to preserve the memory of those terrible times, the suffering of the victims, and the heroism of the victors."

The Sobibor extermination camp was established in southeastern Poland in 1942 and operated until the prisoner uprising in 1943. During this period, approximately 250,000 people were murdered there. In 1943, an underground resistance group was formed in Sobibor, led by Soviet officer Alexander Pechersky. On October 14, around three hundred prisoners escaped from the camp, though the majority of them subsequently perished. All remaining prisoners in Sobibor were executed, and the camp itself was soon demolished."