Spanish Senate holds ceremony to mark Holocaust Memorial Day

SPANISH survivors of Nazi concentration camps were among those invited to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day in Madrid last friday Friday.

Mexico’s former president Carlos Salinas also attended the ceremony at the Spanish Senate. The politician was invited by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain. Friday’s ceremony marked Holocaust Memorial Day which took place the following Sunday.

Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and Dolores Delgado, the country’s Justice Minister, also attended the ceremony.

Borrell said the ceremony was held to mark the deaths of “millions” at the hands of the Nazis.

“May those dark memories inspire us to avoid the paths that must not be revisited,” Borrell said.

La maldad habita en lo más profundo del alma humana. Las únicas armas para combatirla son la inteligencia, el conocimiento y la educación. De mi intervención ayer en el acto en memoria de las víctimas del #Holocausto en @Senadoesp. @SefaradIsrael pic.twitter.com/hSagVRCRmo

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) January 25, 2019

“Wickedness dwells in the depths of the human soul. The only weapons to combat it are intelligence, knowledge and education,” the Foreign Minister added.

Delgado said the day was also a time to remember other crimes against humanity throughout history.

“It happened and it could happen again. It could happen anywhere. This is the essence of what we have to say,” Delgado said, quoting Holocaust survivor Primo Levi.

Hoy es el día de la Memoria del Holocausto y la prevención de los Crímenes contra la Humanidad.
“Ocurrió. En consecuencia puede volver a ocurrir. Esto es la esencia de lo que tenemos que decir. Puede ocurrir y puede ocurrir en cualquier lugar” (Primo Levi)

— Dolores Delgado García (@LolaDelgadoG) January 27, 2019

Documents relating to the Spanish Jewish community were destroyed after the Second World War. But one unearthed in 2010 showed the regime of Francisco Franco had drawn up a list of some 6,000 Jews that it intended to send to Nazi concentration camps.

There are other cases of Jews fleeing persecution through Spain to Portugal and out of Europe. Many Spanish people who fled the country after Franco took power in 1939 later ended up in concentration camps.