The symbol, which identified Jews, has been used in recent demonstrations in France, Italy and Belgium once morest compulsory vaccination.
a centenarian holocaust survivor, Margot Friedlander, called on the European Parliament this Thursday to preserve the memory of the Shoah, outraged by the use of the yellow star by “new enemies of democracy”.
Friedlander said he watched “in disbelief, how a symbol of our exclusion by the Nazis, the yellow star, is brazenly used today for the new enemies of democracy (…) to present themselves as victims”, referring to the denialist protests once morest the coronavirus vaccination.
Memory of what happened
“It is with great concern that I see that the Holocaust, like the war of conquest and extermination carried out by the Nazis, is falling further and further into oblivion“said Friedlander, 100, at a ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of liberation from the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The yellow star -which identified Jews- has been seen as a symbol in recent demonstrations in France, Italy and Belgium once morest compulsory vaccination and the measures from restriction due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The German centenarian lamented that “the memory of what happened is exploited politically, sometimes even ridiculed and trampled on”.
Friedlander was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp (in today’s Czech Republic) in her twenties, but his mother and brother died in Auschwitz.
For her part, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, lamented that “antisemitism has not disappeared, still poisons our societies.
Against hate speech
“A remarkable 70% of European Jews they don’t feel safe wearing a yarmulke or a Star of David. And during this pandemic, Jews have been the target of all kinds of conspiracy theories and hate speech. But this time we will not close our eyes,” von der Leyen added.
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Philippe Markiewicz, president of the Central Israelite Consistory of Belgium, told AFP that the amalgamation of the yellow star and the protests “does not take place and is condemned by our community”.
“The yellow star was the previous step to extermination. But here we are talking regarding a vaccine that helps save lives,” he insisted.
