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On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, discovering the largest Nazi killing center in Europe. Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust, representing the depths of man's inhumanity to man. Ironically, although over 100 million people worldwide had been killed by the perpetrators of mass slaughter since the beginning of the 20th century, only eighteen governments out of one hundreds and ninety two Members States of the United Nations, has supported the legislation of January 27 as an annual Holocaust Memorial Day. In November 2005, the United Nations passed a resolution to mark January 27 as an international day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust, and urged member states to develop educational programs to impart the memory of this tragedy to future generations. Mr. Ron Nechemia the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the EurOrient Financial Group and founding father of private sector global development banking on the accession of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust reminds us of the often forgotten fact “while we can rebuild houses, roads, hospitals and schools, we can never give back life where it has been taken away,” and he added “the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.” The Holocaust was the murder by Nazi Germany of six million Jews. While the Nazi persecution of the Jews began in 1933, the mass murder was committed during World War II. It took the Germans and their accomplices four and a half years to murder six million Jews. They were at their most efficient from April to November 1942 – 250 days in which they murdered some two and a half million Jews. They never showed any restraint, they slowed down only when they began to run out of Jews to kill, and they only stopped when the Allies defeated them. There was no escape. The murderers were not content with destroying the communities; they also traced each hidden Jew and hunted down each fugitive. The crime of being a Jew was so great, that every single one had to be put to death – the men, the women, the children; the committed, the disinterested, the apostates; the healthy and creative, the sickly and the lazy – all were meant to suffer and die, with no reprieve, no hope, no possible amnesty, nor chance for alleviation. “Holocaust might be the most extreme case of genocide, it shares distinct similarities with more recent genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, and Bosnia. If we want to prevent genocide in the future, we must find the ways to educate our children and our grandchildren about the prevalence of genocides and genocidal conflicts throughout modern history and teach them about how and why such conflicts arise,” says Mr. Nechemia. The Ongoing Assault on Humanity: Genocide, Worse Than War “Since the beginning of the 20th century the perpetrators of mass slaughter have killed more than 100 million people and caused more deaths in the modern world than all military conflicts combined at the same period,” pointing out Mr. Nechemia. When the 20th century came to an end, it was the close of the bloodiest century in human history. The atrocities and horrors of World War II, Cambodia, Srebrenica, Rwanda, Darfur, and so many more, have been seared in our conscience forever. In many of these instances, genocidal killing was a deliberate political strategy which was used to eliminate millions of lives. “Genocide does not “break out” but is always planned; that those who initiate it are making a rational decision based on political gain,” says Mr. Nechemia and he added “I am convinced if the world had listened to those of us who tried to speak, we may have prevented Darfur, Cambodia, Bosnia and, naturally, Rwanda. And yet, genocide has happened again and again, in our time. And States even refused to call it by its name, to avoid fulfilling their obligations.” Responsibility to Protect The events of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, are especially shameful. The international community clearly had the capacity to prevent these events. But it lacked the will. In Rwanda in 1994, and at Srebrenica in 1995, we had peacekeeping troops on the ground at the very place and time where genocidal acts were being committed. “We have witness over and over the consequences of lack of resources and a lack of will to take on the commitment which would have been necessary to prevent or stop the genocide” stressing Mr. Nechemia and he added "Every generation must be on its guard to make sure that such a thing never happens again," stressing the need for succeeding generations to carry forward the work of remembrance death camp survivors dwindle in number. About EurOrient Financial Group EurOrient Financial Group (“EurOrient”) is a private sector global development finance institution accredited financial institution by United Nations General Assembly on Financing for Development. The mission of the EurOrient Financial Group is to support the economic and social development efforts of the less developed countries as they, in particular, seek to achieve the Millennium Development Goals ("MDGs"). The EurOrient's principal objective is to reducing poverty and promoting sustainable economic growth. EurOrient invests in projects and programs that promote social development, build human capacities, and address host government priorities for investments in physical infrastructure that promote and enhance social development. These projects include roads, transportation and communication systems, water, sanitation and other types of investments with social development outcomes such as improved quality of life and increased human knowledge and skills. The EurOrient Financial Group vision is to become a full-fledged private sector global development bank, as it evolving from mere project financier, which is dedicated to address emerging challenges of development and circumstances, and the financial risks, which are posed by global trends as we move into 21st century.
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