Holokauszt nemzetközi emléknapja

A Holokauszt nemzetközi emléknapja alkalmából megemlékezést tartottak az olaszországi Acerra városa polgárai is, mely ünnepségre Deutsch Tamás európai képviselőt is meghívta Erminia Mazzoni olasz néppárti európai parlamenti képviselő. Tekintettel arra, hogy Deutsch Tamás az Auschwitzban rendezett nemzetközi megemlékezésre volt hivatalos, levélben köszöntötte az Acerrában összegyűlt emlékezőket.

Deutsch Tamás levelében az Acerra városában született Verolino érsek tevékenységére emlékeztetett. Verolino érsek magyarországi tartózkodása során 25-30 ezer zsidó származású magyar polgárt mentett meg a táborokba hurcolástól, és ezáltal a biztos haláltól. Verolino áldozatos munkájáért megkapta a Világ Igaza (2007) címet, illetve 1994-ben a “Magyar Köztársaság Érdemrend Középkeresztje a Csillaggal” kitüntetést is átvehette.

A Deutsch Tamás által küldött angol nyelvű levél teljes terjedelmében alább olvasható:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As my colleague and friend, Ms Erminia Mazzoni is reading this letter to you, I am taking part in the International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration Ceremonies in Auschwitz-Birkenau, joining Holocaust Survivors, more than 70 Members of Knesset and leading European political figures. Therefore, to my great regret, I cannot be with you in Acerra today.
Despite the geographical distance which divides us at the moment, we are united in our spirit to commemorate with one heart the victims of the Holocaust, this indescribable and shameful tragedy, which claimed millions of innocent lives several decades ago.
When we stand speechless in front of the sufferings inflicted on our Jewish compatriotes, we have to remember those who risked their very own lives in order to save as many Jewish people as they possibly could. Monsignor Gennaro Verolino was one of these people.
The Acerra-born Verolino got to Hungary at the age of 36 and as secretary in the apostolic nunciature of Budapest he fought relentlessly to save the lives of Hungarian Jews by providing shelter and diplomatic documents. In those months of Nazi occupation, the nunciature drew up and distributed to Jews between 25 and 30 thousand “letters of protection”, with which it was possible to evade deportation. With these documents the Jews were able to avoid being loaded on the convoys “officially” going to Germany, where, as the Nazis said, the Jews went to “work”. Numerous thousands of lives were saved by special certificates which could be used as passports by persecuted Jewish families, who, in this way escaped the Fascist power. In his life-saving work to protect Jews from internment and deportation, Monsignor Gennaro Verolino cooperated closely with Per Anger Swedish diplomat. On the first of October 2004, Monsignor Gennaro Verolino was awarded the First Per Anger Humanitarian Prize in Rome. As an additional sign of his humility and never-ending readiness to help, Verolino donated the award money to a children’s home in Nazareth. In Nazareth there is a school run by Franciscan friars where the 749 little students wrote a letter of thanks to Monsignor Gennaro, who donated to them the entire sum of money from the prize awarded to him by the Swedish government. It was not the only prize awarded to Verolino. In 1994 he received the Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for civilians, and in 2007 he was honoured „Righteous among the Nations” by Yad Vashem.
As the Talmud says: “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” This quotation captures the evilness and inhumanity of those who committed any crime related to the Holocaust, and shows the immense significance of the work of those who saved even one life from the Nazi aggressors. Monsignor Verolino saved not one life but thousands. Members of my very own family are among these thousands. Let us bow our heads in front of the great sacrifice taken by Gennaro Verolino. He forgot about his very own life and was ready to risk it so that others can continue to live. He showed all of us an example. Let me close my letter with a quote taken from an interview with Monsignor Verolino which he gave in 2005:
“In what way did the Jews get in contact with you to ask for help?
VEROLINO: They came to the nunciature, the doors were open to all, nobody was turned away. Whoever it was. We didn’t even ask what religion a person was. They asked for that protection, and the protection was given."