Speaking in Warsaw on Wednesday during an event to honour the heroes of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Herzog said that the Jewish revolt against the Nazi Germans in the Polish capital 80 years ago was “the emblem of heroism during humanity’s darkest hour.”
He added that the Warsaw ghetto fighters were joined by "the non-Jewish righteous," including those from Poland “who risked their lives and chose not to stand idly by."
The heroism of resistance against the Nazis and the imperative to remember that “terrible chapter of history” offers an important platform for dialogue and friendship between Israel and Poland, "a friendship that I believe and hope will flourish and develop and allow us to elucidate and analyze in-depth disagreements and pain, while also building important partnerships, not only on the foundations of the past but also on the basis of our shared future,” Herzog said, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post.
Herzog told the gathering that, even though most of the Jewish ghetto fighters did not survive the revolt, "the human spirit won on this ground sanctified by the blood of our heroic brothers," Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during ceremonies in the Polish capital on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
While in Warsaw on Wednesday, Herzog held bilateral talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
He also met with Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to discuss bilateral relations and security challenges in Europe and the Middle East, according to officials.
The Israeli ambassador to Warsaw, Yacov Livne, has told public broadcaster Polish Radio that Poland and Israel need to "build close relations" between young people in both countries.
The Polish and Israeli education ministers on Wednesday signed a declaration on Israeli youth trips to Poland and Polish youth trips to Israel, officials announced.
Last month, Poland and Israel signed an agreement that allows for the resumption of Israeli youth trips to Poland, while at the same time guaranteeing Poland the right to organise youth trips to Israel along the same lines, according to officials.
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Source: PAP, IAR, jpost.com