New York – World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder is pleased to present the full proceedings of a historic program hosted this past spring by the WJC and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), entitled “Remembering the Shoah: The ICRC and the International Community's Efforts in Responding to Genocide and Protecting Civilians.”
Presided over by Lauder and ICRC President Peter Maurer, the April 28 event was held to mark 70 years since the liberation of the Nazi death camps and the end of the Holocaust, which saw the death of millions of Jews as the result of a systematic genocidal policy.
The commemorative event featured a panel discussion moderated by WJC CEO Robert Singer, drawing on the lessons of the Holocaust for a forward-looking perspective on the international community's efforts to protect civilians and prevent atrocities. The panelists included President Maurer, the American Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt and the Canadian physician, writer, and humanitarian activist James Orbinski.
In his opening remarks, Lauder commended the ICRC on behalf of the World Jewish Congress for admitting its failure to speak out against the destruction of world-Jewry during the Nazi era.
“The Holocaust was never just a Nazi project. The Holocaust could not have happened without the entire world looking the other way. World silence led to the Holocaust. World indifference led to the Holocaust,” Lauder said. “There is no doubt that the Red Cross did much good work during World War II. But it could have done more. It should have done more. The sad fact is: Nobody spoke out.”
“You have admitted that you could have and should have done more,” Lauder added. “It is never easy for people or organizations to be this open and for this, I believe the ICRC should be commended. The World Jewish Congress commends you. I commend you.”
During World War II, the ICRC, headquartered in Geneva, was the principal humanitarian institution maintaining communications with both the Allied and Axis powers. While the ICRC did provide assistance and protection to allied prisoners of war held by Nazi Germany, it could not do the same for Jewish deportees as Berlin refused all humanitarian requests to help Jewish victims. At the same time, the ICRC did not publicly denounce the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. In 1995, the then-president of the ICRC, Cornelio Sommaruga, apologized, stating: “Our failure to speak out at that time was a moral defeat.”
In her presentation, Professor Lipstadt highlighted what she called “the desperate and well-nigh heroic attempts of the WJC’s representative … in Switzerland, Dr. Gerhart Riegner, to convince the ICRC to act. He repeatedly asked senior ICRC officials, including vice president Carl Burckhardt, to do something and was repeatedly rebuffed.”
The proceedings of the April 28 program were compiled and edited into a 36-page brochure by WJC legal counsel and chief historian Menachem Rosensaft. The texts of the presentations and comments were reviewed and, where appropriate, amended by the respective participants.
The booklet is available to those interested at a symbolic cost of $10, including shipping, within the United States.
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