Intolerance Remains Prevalent Even 75 Years After Auschwitz's Liberation - Rabbi Alliance

Intolerance Remains Prevalent Even 75 Years After Auschwitz's Liberation - Rabbi Alliance

As the world marks 75 years since the Auschwitz death camp was liberated, it still faces growing levels of intolerance and hate speech stemming from divisions in society and spread by the social media, Gady Gronich, CEO of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), an alliance uniting more than 700 religious leaders of the mainstream synagogue communities in Europe, told Sputnik

GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2020) As the world marks 75 years since the Auschwitz death camp was liberated, it still faces growing levels of intolerance and hate speech stemming from divisions in society and spread by the social media, Gady Gronich, CEO of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), an alliance uniting more than 700 religious leaders of the mainstream synagogue communities in Europe, told Sputnik.

January 27 was the International Day of Commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust.

"Intolerance is still a big problem and it is even growing because of a new wave of populism in more and more polarized societies. I am very concerned about this because today we live in a world where people are more open towards alternative facts or even fakes news than to listen to the truth and real facts. Unfortunately, the internet and social media have increased this problem," Gronich said.

He added that the world needed more awareness, starting with the realization of how dangerous hate speech is, especially on the internet.

"We have to consider how to force internet companies to take responsibility in which way social media are used and to stop hate speech in their platforms e.g. by a stronger regulation. Furthermore, we need more exchange, more education to come into a more intensive dialogue within our societies and beyond," he continued.

He explained that the Conference of European Rabbis had been making efforts to strengthen the interfaith dialogue and combat radicalization and extremism in religious communities since its establishment in 1956. It works closely with religious leaders from all faiths, and several months ago established cooperation with the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities to increase security of religious communities around the world.

On Monday, at the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau in the Polish town of Oswiecim, 200 former prisoners and numerous foreign dignitaries attended a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau facility was Nazi Germany's largest death camp and has since became a symbol of the Holocaust. Approximately 1.4 million people � including 1.1 million Jews � were exterminated at the camp between 1941 and 1945, before it was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. The United Nations General Assembly has designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.