BERLIN - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
on Thursday evening visited Wannsee Villa in Berlin – the site where the "Final Solution" for the destruction of Europe's Jews was planned in 1942 by Adolf Hitler and leaders of the Third Reich.
"The destruction of the Jewish people was planned in detail in this place," Netanyahu said. "As the prime minister of Israel,
I have three words to say here, and I have written them down in the guestbook: 'Am Yisrael Chai' (the Jewish people live)."
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Minister Yossi Peled, a Holocaust survivor, joined the prime minister's tour of the place. "I never knew my father, who was murdered by the Nazis," said Peled. "But if he is looking down from the sky and seeing his son, a major-general in the Israel Defense Forces and an Israeli minister, he is probably proud."
Briefed by historian at Wannsee Villa (Photo: AFP)
Earlier, Netanyahu said that a great change has taken place in the Jewish people's situation since World War II: "The Jewish people, 70 years ago, were defenseless and incapable of resisting. Today the situation has changed completely. Every generation, all kinds of oppressors rise up against us. But the great change which took place in our generation is the rediscovery of the Jewish people's ability of defense. This is well expressed in Yossi Peled's story."
Peled grew up as a Christian until the age of nine, and this is what saved his life. Many years later, he became the Northern Command chief and an Israeli minister.
"There are those who will talk about an analogy in the Jewish people's situation," added Netanyahu, who earlier in the day received the blueprints
of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
"Jews in any generation must defend themselves, and today they can defend themselves. Therefore this analogy is incomplete. It's true that nothing can be compared to the Holocaust, but the Holocaust was a series of acts which proved the Jewish people's helplessness."
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