President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova received today Dr. Michael Berenbaum, a prominent professor of Jewish studies and an expert on the Holocaust who accompanied her in March this year during her visit to the Treblinka Memorial Complex in Poland.
The meeting was attended by Goran Sadikario, Director of the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia, as well as by Ljiljana Mizrahi and Todor Cepreganov.
Siljanovska-Davkova highlighted the dangers posed by historical revisionism, minimization or denial of the Holocaust and antisemitism.
For her, Treblinka, where 7,144 Macedonian Jews (98% of the Macedonian Jewish community) were killed, represents a deeply harrowing experience; yet, it also serves as a monument bearing witness to historical facts, providing a compelling reason to establish the act of commemoration as a lasting tradition.
The President thanked Berenbaum for his professional and personal dedication to defending the historical truth regarding the Holocaust as it affected the Macedonian Jews – specifically for his well-reasoned advocacy to preserve the original inscription on the memorial plaque at Treblinka, in the face of attempts to alter it.
According to the professor, the presence of the President, MPs and representatives of the Macedonian Jewish community at the commemoration of March 11, the day of the deportation of the Macedonian Jews at Treblinka, is of exceptional importance.
Barenbaum noted that by inscribing the names of the Macedonian Jews on the wall at the Memorial Complex, each victim will be granted a lasting memorial and protection they deserve against being forgotten.
He emphasized the importance of documenting history and educating younger generations about the Holocaust at all levels of the educational system, as well as organizing student visits to the Treblinka Memorial Complex.
The Director of the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia provided an update on the ongoing activities, including the initiative to establish an educational institute within the Center, and mentioned an exhibition dedicated to the Jewish partisans, set to open tomorrow in Skopje.
