Ambassador April H. Foley

My thoughts on visiting Auschwitz on May 1, 2008

Ambassador Foley (right) and Minister Szekeres (5th from left) at the memorial ceremony. (MTI photo by Szilárd Koszticsák - full size photo)

This is the time of year when we commemorate anniversaries of some of the most horrendous memories of human history so that we might prevent such deeds occurring again. The historical facts about the extermination of entire populations in Europe by the Nazis during World War II must be kept current. The deeds committed then violate our values as human beings and specifically those of my country, the United States of America.

On May 1, on Holocaust Memorial Day, I traveled to Auschwitz in Poland with Hungarian Minister of Defense Imre Szekeres to participate in the annual “March of the Living” to commemorate the memory of those awful times when so many people were annihilated. As this was my first visit to Auschwitz, I was not prepared for the impact that it had on me. I saw there the empty containers of chemicals used in experiments to kill people. I saw what is left of the abusive living quarters where people were piled together to await extermination. I heard the screaming silence of death. The slogan “Never Again,” is the theme of the commemoration. These memories must be kept alive for future generations.

In the United States we have lived through our struggles over racism, ethnicity, poverty and other social issues. We are stronger for having had those experiences, but these are not issues that have disappeared at home or abroad. As a diplomat in Hungary, I have spoken privately, expressing my concern over the manifestation in modern day Hungary of the symbols of that hateful past. Articles like the one recently published in a Hungarian newspaper must be condemned. Make no mistake about it—whether the language is coded to deceive the easily fooled, or just plain anti-semitic—it offends the values that my country, my embassy, and that I personally stand for.

I will continue to do what I have done in the past: to urge that the views of the truly hateful be isolated, not trumpeted; to participate in events such as the April 16 “Walk of Life” in Budapest, or the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day on May 1 at Auschwitz, or last year’s U.S. Embassy dedication of a memorial to the memory of Carl Lutz, who was personally responsible for saving the lives of more than 60,000 Jews in Hungary. My Auschwitz visit only sharpened my awareness of what true evil man is capable of—“Never Again.”

• Related item: Ambassador Foley Re-emphasizes "Never Again" in Visit to Auschwitz on International Holocaust Remembrance Day