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20 January 2012

The Seventy Years Declaration on the Anniversary of the Final Solution Conference at Wannsee


On this the 70th anniversary of the formal adoption by the Nazi leadership of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem” we the undersigned

Remember:
With humility and sadness, the Final Solution plan which formalised and industrialised the by-then ongoing Holocaust of European Jewry
The horror and brutality of the genocidal campaign of total annihilation of European Jewry conducted by the Nazis and their collaborators
That the mass killing of European Jewry preceded that formal adoption of the Final Solution plan by half a year, and began on the Eastern Front in 1941 upon the initiation of Operation Barbarossa and the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union
That millions of non-Jews suffered in numerous ways under the Nazis and other forms of tyranny in Europe during the Second World War.

Recognise:
The Nazi campaign of annihilation of the Jewish people was philosophically, qualitatively and practically profoundly distinct and different to other forms of oppression experienced by European people during World War II, such as the horrors of Stalinism also before and after the War
Our dismay that the lessons of the Holocaust were not learnt and genocide continues to occur in the international arena
The nobility of Jewish partisans who survived ghettos or camps and went on to fight the Nazis and their allies
The efforts of European states to acknowledge forthrightly their role in the Holocaust past
That discussion about genocide in Europe must be based on the definition of the UN Genocide Convention 1948
That antisemitism continues in various forms in Europe and beyond.

Reject:
Attempts to obfuscate the Holocaust by diminishing its uniqueness and deeming it to be equal, similar or equivalent to Communism as suggested by the 2008 Prague Declaration
Equating Nazi and Soviet crimes as this blurs the uniqueness of each and threatens to undermine the important historical lessons drawn from each of these distinct experiences.
Attempts to have European history school books rewritten to reflect the notion of “Double Genocide” (“equality” or “sameness” of Nazi and Soviet crimes)
As unacceptable the glorification of Nazi Allies, and of Holocaust perpetrators and collaborators, including the Waffen SS in Estonia and Latvia, and the Lithuanian Activist Front in Lithuania
Attempts to legalise or sanitize the public display of the swastika by racist and fascist groups
Efforts to have the Holocaust remembered on one common day with the victims of Communism.

Advocate:
Distinct days and distinct programs to remember the Holocaust and other victims of other twentieth century totalitarian regimes
EU member states continue efforts to acknowledge their own roles in the destruction of European Jewry
The need for ongoing genuine Holocaust education and memorialisation across the European Union
Opposition to all forms of contemporary racism and discrimination and its manifestation, including antisemitism, contempt for Muslims, hate of Roma, homophobia, and other prejudice and intolerance generated by extremist politics.


Founding Signatories, being members of the European Parliament or national parliaments within the European Union:

• Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Member of Seimas, Lithuania
• Volker Beck, Member of Bundestag, Germany
• Luciana Berger, MP, United Kingdom
• Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, MEP, Lithuania
• Martin Callanan, MEP, United Kingdom
• Boriss Cilevičs, Member of Saeima, Latvia
• Paolo De Castro, MEP, Italy
• The Baroness Deech D.B.E, House of Lords, United Kingdom
• Proinsias De Rossa, MEP, Ireland
• Sergejs Dolgopolovs, member of Saeima, Latvia
• Andrew Duff MEP, United Kingdom
• Louise Ellman, MP, United Kingdom
• Ioan Enciu, MEP, Romania
• Tanja Fajon, MEP, Slovenia
• Göran Färm, MEP, Sweden
• Elisa Ferreira, MEP, Portugal
• Knut Fleckenstein, MEP, Germany
• Mike Freer, MP, United Kingdom
• Ana Maria Gomes, MEP, Portugal
• Kinga Göncz, MEP, Hungary
• Zita Gurmai, MEP, Hungary
• Jutta Haug, MEP, Germany
• Edit Herczog, MEP, Hungary
• Stephen Hughes, MEP, United Kingdom
• Vincenzo Iovine, MEP, Italy
• Lord Janner of Braunstone, House of Lords, United Kingdom
• Lukrezia Jochimsen, Member of Bundestag, Germany
• Karin Kadenbach, MEP, Austria
• Justinas Karosas, Member of Seimas, Lithuania
• Evgeni Kirilov, MEP, Bulgaria
• Jan Korte, Member of the Bundestag, Germany
• Constanze Krehl, MEP, Germany
• Christian Lange, Member of the Bundestag, Germany
• Monika Lazar, Member of the Bundestag, Germany
• Jörg Leichtfried, MEP Austria
• Jo Leinen, MEP, Germany
• Baroness Sarah Ludford, MEP, United Kingdom
• Denis MacShane, MP, United Kingdom
• John Mann, MP, United Kingdom
• Miguel Angel Martínez, MEP, Spain
• Linda McAvan, MEP, United Kingdom
• Louis Michel, MEP, Belgium
• Alexander Mirsky, MEP, Latvia
• Jerzy Montag, Member of Bundestag, Germany
• Jan Mulder, MEP, Netherlands
• Norbert Neuser, MEP, Germany
• Bill Newton Dunn, MEP, United Kingdom
• Matthew Offord, MP, United Kingdom
• Justas Paleckis, MEP, Lithuania
• Petra Pau, Member of the Bundestag, Germany
• Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, Member of Seimas, Lithuania
• Bernhard Rapkay, MEP, Germany
• Frédérique Ries, MEP, Belgium
• Niccolò Rinaldi, MEP, Italy
• Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, MEP, Germany
• Julius Sabatauskas, Member of Seimas, Lithuania
• Olle Schmidt, MEP, Sweden
• Martin Schulz, MEP, Germany
• Jutta Steinruck, MEP, Germany
• Hannes Swoboda, MEP, Austria
• Algirdas Sysas, Member of Seimas, Lithuania
• Hannu Takkula, MEP, Finland
• Charles Tannock, MEP, United Kingdom
• Catherine Trautmann, MEP, France
• Giommaria Uggias, MEP, Italy
• Birutė Vėsaitė, Member of Seimas, Lithuania
• Barbara Weiler, MEP, Germany
• Prof. (em.) Gert Weisskirchen, Member of the Bundestag [1976 – 2009]
• Boris Zala, MEP, Slovakia
• Tatjana Ždanoka, MEP, Latvia
• Gabriele Zimmer, MEP, Germany

This declaration is based on a text authored by Dovid Katz and Danny Ben-Moshe as an initiative of DefendingHistory.com.