Youths gather in Jerusalem to discuss keeping alive Holocaust memory

Published: 2008-02-01

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- The murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis is a human tragedy that must not be forgotten regardless of one's religion or nationality, said several Catholic participants in the first International Youth Congress on the Holocaust. "This is not something that happened only to the Jewish people, but it happened to the human family. It happened to all of us," said 17-year-old Augustina Dighiero-Neme, a Catholic from Uruguay. She was among more than 100 young people from 62 countries who took part in the three-day congress that began Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Lerato Matsio, an 18-year-old Lutheran from South Africa, said love for a fellow human is fundamental to all religions, and that entails not standing by quietly in situations of injustice. Participants in the youth congress included Jews, Christians and Muslims who went through a rigorous selection process that included written essays and oral interviews. The congress, sponsored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, was held under the patronage of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

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