President Stevo Pendarovski addressed today in Malmo, the Kingdom of Sweden, the International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antidemitism “REMEMBER – REACT”, at the session “Preserving testimonies and developing education for the future”.
In his address, President Pendarovski reminded of the tragic fate of the Macedonian Jews, and, as he said, the atrocities that took place on the territory of today’s Republic of North Macedonia in World War II that the world should know more about.
“7,144 Jews were taken from the territory of today’s Republic of North Macedonia to Treblinka. They were all killed there. That is 98% of the entire Jewish population living in that region, in that part of the Balkans at that time. I am talking about 1943, when all these people were taken from their homes. According to some relevant historical sources, this is, unfortunately, the highest percentage in Europe of the Jewish population that was taken and killed in the concentration camps”, President Pendarovski said.
President Pendarovski reminded that in memory of all those people, a Holocaust Memorial Center was built in Skopje in 2011 and noted that so far thousands of people have visited and learnt about the crimes committed by Nazi Germany and their then allies. President Pendarovski announced at the Forum that our country has decided to make several more pledges in the near future.
“We will increase the number of classes on Holocaust and Antisemitism in the final grades of primary education and make them mandatory, second – we will make mandatory visits to the Holocaust Memorial Center in Skopje by all children, primary and secondary school students and the third commitment is that our Government has already adopted the working definition of anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma”, President Pendarovski said in his address to the Forum.
