Today the European Parliament commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, with a touching ceremony. The Maltese Herald was present at the event which featured a moving address from Corrie Hermann, daughter of Hungarian cellist and Holocaust victim Pál Hermann, who gave MEPs an account of her father’s tragic fate.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola opened the session with a passionate speech to keep the memory of the Holocaust victims alive.
“We can never forget, and we must act. Ours is the last generation that has the privilege of knowing Holocaust survivors and hearing their stories firsthand. Their voices, their courage, their memories are a bridge to a past which can never be forgotten,” Metsola said.
She said that antisemitism still exists today and expressed the European Parliament’s determination to stand up against hate and oppression. The intervention was followed by a heart-wrenching musical performance with Hermann’s original Gagliano cello.
A Story of Loss and Legacy
Corrie Hermann described her father, Pál Hermann, as a brilliant cellist and composer, trained at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, who was considered one of the finest musicians of his time. He concertized throughout Europe until he fled to Belgium, then France, in fear of persecution by the Nazis.
In April 1944, Hermann was arrested in Toulouse, deported first to Drancy, then to the Kaunas concentration camp in Lithuania, where he was murdered. In a desperate gesture of hope, he managed to throw a note from the train, begging for his beloved Gagliano cello to be saved. The instrument was smuggled to safety and has since been rediscovered, ensuring that his musical legacy endures.
“This story of one victim of the Holocaust is dedicated to each of the six million victims whom today we mourn,” Corrie Hermann said.
Despite the Nazis’ best efforts to extinguish Jewish culture, Hermann’s music endures. His works are performed the world over-in fact, proof, his daughter said, that “music is indestructible.”
A Moment of Reflection
After Hermann had spoken, MEPs held a minute of silence in memory of all the victims of the Holocaust, followed by the emotional performance of Maurice Ravel’s “Kaddish”, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead.
The event was one of the most poignant reminders of the darkest period in history and of the commitment that “never again” is not just a phrase but a promise to be kept for future generations.
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