Julius Meinl speech at Victory Day 70th Anniversary at Ukrainian Embassy in Israel

As we stand together and mark 70 years since the end of the Second World War we are faced with the responsibility to remember. To remember the 15 million civilians who died on the eastern front. To remember the 10 million soldiers of the Red Army who died fighting the Nazis on the battlefield or perished in captivity. To remember the dangers of the ideology which drove Nazi Germany as it proceeded down the path of war and destruction.
But also to remember the bravery of those who fought back in the military and the courage of those who shielded Jews while risking their own lives.  In a period of almost total darkness there were glimmers of light, good people who refused to stand by and be bystanders to racism and hate.
Their actions resonate down the generations through the survivors who were liberated from the concentration camps and were born again but those who fought against the Nazis also sent a moral message which resonates to this day. We can proudly say to young people today that even in the face of seemingly total and indescribable evil there will always be those who refuse to remain silent. That our responsibility is not just to care for ourselves but for the stranger among us.
In every generation the challenge is different. The bravery of those who fought and defeated the Nazi’s provided us with the opportunity to rebuild Europe’s Jewish community and after only 70 years we have made great progress. Our spiritual and moral victory over Nazi ideology is a flourishing Jewish community in Europe. It is a symbol of the failure of that hateful ideology and the defeat of those who sought to force it upon us all. So we should look with a sense of pride at what has been achieved in 70 years but equally look with concern at what lies ahead.
While we have succeeded in rebuilding Jewish life in Europe, we failed to truly defeat anti-Semitism in Europe and Asia. The racism which drove Nazism to seek our extermination remains, albeit under different guises.
Where Jews were rounded up and forced to board trains to their deaths as war ravaged the continent today Jews are living entire elements of their public life under armed guard. In schools, in synagogues and in supermarkets volunteer security forces, the police and even the military stand guard.
Anti-semitism is symptomatic of something rotten in a society. Jews are often the first victims but we are never the last. Where we see the victimization and targeting of Jews we know that other groups of society will be next. We are the canary in the coal mine.
This time we must wake up before it is too late. Only 70 years after the defeat of Nazism, Jewish graves are daubed with swastikas and Heil Hitler is shouted at Jews in the street. While 70 years ago the Nazis made clear the Jews were unwanted in Europe, today the cries of the European far left and of radical Islam are for the Jews to leave the Middle East.
No country is immune. During the turmoil in Ukraine there were groups which sought to abuse the political uncertainty to attack our community. From my knowledge of your country, Mr Ambassador, I know that those groups are in no way reflective of wider Ukrainian society or the leadership of your country. We must stand united against those groups and individuals and refuse to tolerate their hate. They threaten your society, just as they threaten us.
We must begin by calling racism by its name, by shining a spotlight on it and by refusing to be silent when faced with it – no matter who the victim, no matter who the perpetrator. We must educate future generations both about the past and the universal lessons which can be learnt from it. We must demand law enforcement show agencies show zero tolerance for incitement and the spread of hatred whether on the streets or on the internet. We must support the revitalization of Jewish life across Europe.
I’ll end with a quote from one of the great leaders of that war, Winston Churchill. He famously said, “One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.”
My friends, the legacy of the Second World War is surely that we must stand together and meet danger promptly and without flinching. If we do that then we honour all those who gave their lives 70 years ago so that we could be free.