{"id":723419,"date":"2026-01-27T04:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T04:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/723419\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T04:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T04:58:19","slug":"never-again-israel-germany-commemorate-holocaust-victims-in-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/723419\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Never again\u2019: Israel, Germany commemorate Holocaust victims in Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Israeli Israeli Ambassador to Korea Rafael Harpaz (left) and German Ambassador Georg Schmidt speak at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday. (Sanjay Kumar\/ The Korea Herald) <\/p>\n

The embassies of Israel and Germany in South Korea jointly hosted a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Held at the National Museum of Korean Democracy, the event marked the UN-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945 and honoring the nearly 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany during the Shoah.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, the German and Israeli embassies in Korea have held Holocaust remembrance events to uphold historical truth and moral responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Holocaust is not a tragedy of the past. It is painfully relevant today,\u201d Israeli Ambassador to Korea Rafael Harpaz said in his remarks, warning that the Holocaust\u2019s lessons remain urgent as antisemitism resurges, with Jews and Israelis targeted for who they are and hatred amplified by social media and AI.<\/p>\n

German Ambassador Georg Schmidt recalled the 81st anniversary of Auschwitz\u2019s liberation, describing it as the ultimate symbol of the Holocaust, and highlighted the story of German-Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum to humanize the scale of the atrocity.<\/p>\n

\"German-Jewish German-Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum exhibition showcased during Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday. (Sanjay Kumar\/ The Korea Herald) <\/p>\n

The exhibition of Nussbaum\u2019s works, shown in Korea for the first time, accompanied the commemoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Germans, we bear historical responsibility for the Holocaust \u2014 a responsibility that does not end,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cThe Holocaust remains part of German identity. This responsibility goes hand in hand with protecting democracy and the rule of law as a shield against hatred and exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He underscored shared democratic values between Germany and South Korea, noting Korea\u2019s hard-won democracy and stressing that the Holocaust\u2019s lessons resonate universally beyond borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever again,\u201d the ambassador urged.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lee Jae-oh, president of the Korea Democracy Foundation, underlined the venue\u2019s transformation from a site of state violence into a space for reflection, noting that the Holocaust underscores the dangers of ignoring human dignity and unchecked state power, aligning with this year\u2019s theme, \u201cRemembering for the Future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place bears deep scars of the past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory that is not remembered is a history that regresses,\u201d Lee added.<\/p>\n

sanjaykumar@heraldcorp.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli Ambassador to Korea Rafael Harpaz (left) and German Ambassador Georg Schmidt speak at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5310],"tags":[15842,2000,299,1824,7299,15839,15838,31766,15840,15841,15837,15844,15845,15843],"class_list":["post-723419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-asia-news","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-k-pop","tag-koreaherald","tag-korean-news","tag-kpop","tag-south-korea-news","tag-south-korea-news-in-english","tag-the-korea-herald","tag-15844","tag-15845","tag-15843"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115965296920746475","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}