Malta expresses solidarity on Auschwitz anniversary

Foreign Minister Michael Frendo yesterday wrote to his Israeli counterpart, Silvan Shalom, to express his solidarity with the Jewish people on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps.

He wrote: "As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, I would like to express my deep solidarity with the Jewish people worldwide, and with the people of the state of Israel, on this momentous occasion.

"Such commemorations highlight our concern that the atrocities perpetrated then do not happen again, and express a firm commitment to universal respect, in our times and in the future, for the right of every man and woman to belong freely, in peace and with dignity, to a religion, a people, a nation."

Dr Frendo said Malta and the Maltese are proud of their heritage of a successful and historic struggle against Nazi-Fascism in World War II and of the unfaltering endurance and steadfastness of their forefathers in the fight for freedom and the respect of such rights.

He said Malta was one of the first countries to support the proposal to convene a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to mark the anniversary of this event.

"I join the Secretary General of the United Nations in voicing my concern that 'the evil that destroyed six million Jews and others in those camps is one that still threatens all of us today' and that we must all strive to 'ensure that such horror never occurs again'," Dr Frendo said.