Two of the Holocaust survivors featured in the “100 Words” video project. Photo: Screenshot.

One hundred Holocaust survivors from around the globe have asked the world to stand with them and mark Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day in a multilingual video project released on Thursday by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).

The “100 Words” video op-ed urges the public, in a total of 100 words, to remember the horrors of the Holocaust to avoid repeating the past. Survivors who participated include those from the United States, Germany, Israel, France, England, Canada, and some who were recently evacuated from Ukraine. In the video, the Holocaust survivors declare in part:

“We are here to give voice to the six million Jews who were murdered. We are a reminder unchecked hatred can lead to actions, actions to genocide. Just over 75 years ago, one-third of the world’s Jews were systematically murdered. Among them, over 1.5 million children were killed in the name of indifference, intolerance, hate. Hatred for what was feared. Hatred for what was different. We must remember the past or it will become our future.”

Holocaust survivor Abe Foxman, who is a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and took part in the project, insisted that hate “must not remain unchecked.”

“As a survivor, not only do I know what happens when evil is allowed to flourish, I also know the urgency of continuing to tell the world of the atrocities that allowed one-third of a population to be murdered,” Foxman said. “Only through remembrance can we be sure this will never happen again.”

Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said, “The world is full of strife – from the pandemic to the crisis happening in Ukraine – on remembrance days like Yom HaShoah, it is so important to stop and reflect. The call to action these survivors put forth today is not only one of remembrance, but one of action, a reminder that we do not have to be bystanders. We can all stand up in our own way and we can choose to not let our collective history repeat itself.”