In einem offenen Brief an den israelischen Staatspräsidenten Reuven Rivlin hat Marian Turski, weltweit bekannter Auschwitz-Überlebender und Vizepräsident des Internationalen Auschwitz Komitees aus Warschau, seine tiefe Sorge bezüglich des Personalvorschlages für den neuen Direktor der Gedenkstätte Yad Vashem deutlich gemacht.
Turski, der von zahlreichen Überlebenden des Holocaust und dem Internationalen Auschwitz Komitee unterstützt wird, betonte, dass die Ernennung eines neuen Direktors in enger Abstimmung mit den Überlebenden des Holocaust gestaltet werden sollte. Mit dem jetzigen Personalvorschlag werde das Ansehen Yad Vashems schwer geschädigt. Der Brief Marian Turskis wurde international breit diskutiert und in der israelischen Zeitung "Haaretz" dokumentiert. Sie finden den Brief Turskis hier in der englischen Fassung:
Warsaw, November 5, 2020
His Excellency Reuven Rivlin
President of the State of Israel,
His Excellency Rabbi Izrael Meir Lau
Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council
Dear and Respected Friends of POLIN Museum,
I am writing this letter with anxiety and concern about the future leadership and authority of Yad Vashem. For 35 years I have had a very close relationship with Yad Vashem. I am writing this as someone who survived Auschwitz, Buchenwald and two death marches, as the chairman (for several terms) of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, a member of the Auschwitz Memorial Council, deputy chairman of the International Auschwitz Council and the head of the POLIN Museum Council in Warsaw.
While being chairman of the Association that owns the Ringelblum Archive (the Oneg Shabbat Archive), I once helped to overcome the Polish government’s resistance to letting Yad Vashem have a full copy of this important Polish-Jewish legacy in addition to a number of authentic archival papers that had been stored in the milk cans in several copies.
Our collaboration with Yad Vashem to restore Jewish memory to the Auschwitz Memorial has been especially fruitful. Professors Władysław Bartoszewski and Izrael Gutman deserved a lot of credit for this. I think that Yad Vashem’s role in changing the Auschwitz Memorial narrative, training guides, and highlighting the role of Auschwitz in the wider story of the Holocaust also paved the way for the recognition of Yad Vashem as an exemplary and indeed the leading institution in Europe and worldwide when it comes to teaching about the Holocaust and fighting Holocaust denial.
And so I come to the reason for my anxiety and concern. I have learned from the Israeli press that the Israeli government intends to nominate a new head of Yad Vashem. The reports indicate that this man has distinguished himself in Israel’s wars. And let him be praised for that. But he is also known as a person of extreme views and some of his public statements raise many concerns.
I fear that this nomination will greatly undermine Yad Vashem’s authority around the world. Faced with the global rise of nationalism and populism, a renewed wave of anti-Semitism and the return of Holocaust denial propaganda, the chairman of Yad Vashem needs to have impeccable moral authority. When the moment comes to stand up against xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism in the international arena, who the chairman of Yad Vashem is – will be extremely important if we don’t want Yad Vashem to be limited only to the Land of Israel but to remain a leading worldwide moral authority.
Dear and Respected Mr. President,
Dear and Respected Mr. Chairman,
If you agree with my arguments, please use your influence to prevent decisions that can only hurt the Jewish cause in the international public opinion.
Aside from the above considerations, I wish both of you lots and lots of health.
Peace for Israel and an end to this pandemic. So that we can at last meet.
במהרה בימנו !
Respectfully Yours,
Marian Turski
