Image: KZGedenkstätte Dachau Guido Hassel und Stiftung Bayerische Gedenkstätten
Dominique Boueilh
President of the Comité International de Dachau
It is with great honor that I address you all as the new President of the Cid. For many years I have been involved in the International Dachau Committee and in the annual commemorations of the liberation of the camp. However, I do not hide the fact that I am overwhelmed by great emotion at this particular moment.
Allow me to share an intimate thought about my father, Didier Boueilh.
Eighteen years old, the exact age of his great-grandson Enzo here present, he arrived at the Dachau camp on July 5, 1944, aboard the sinister convoy 7909, known as the "Train of Death", and which he survived by a miracle. He was liberated at dawn on April 29, 1945 by the American soldiers, to whom he was to dedicate his life-long gratitude.
For the end of the suffering of thousands of prisoners, for this newfound freedom, we must all be honored today by the presence among us of liberators, torn from their youth to liberate from the Nazi invader a Europe that was far from them.
Allow me to share an intimate thought about my father, Didier Boueilh.
Eighteen years old, the exact age of his great-grandson Enzo here present, he arrived at the Dachau camp on July 5, 1944, aboard the sinister convoy 7909, known as the "Train of Death", and which he survived by a miracle. He was liberated at dawn on April 29, 1945 by the American soldiers, to whom he was to dedicate his life-long gratitude.
For the end of the suffering of thousands of prisoners, for this newfound freedom, we must all be honored today by the presence among us of liberators, torn from their youth to liberate from the Nazi invader a Europe that was far from them.
I would also like to pay a warm tribute to my predecessor, General Jean-Michel Thomas, and his entire team, for the actions carried out during his two terms of office, and for the close ties developed with the Bavarian Memorial Foundation and with the Dachau Camp Memorial. These links have made it possible to get through the health crisis with resilience and solidarity. I would like to express the CID's sincere thanks to the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Culture, the Bavarian Memorial Foundation and the Dachau Camp Memorial.
It is with great pleasure that we are returning to the public, warm and fraternal character of our commemorations. The time for projects and our commitment has returned, even stronger, and motivated by the context of a worrying European current events and by the persistence of attacks on our fundamental values.
Image: KZGedenkstätte Dachau Guido Hassel und Stiftung Bayerische Gedenkstätten
Our first commitment will be to support and accompany the new renovation project of the Memorial. It is an innovative, ambitious and necessary project to attract the attention of new generations. We are confident in the ability of the various actors to come together to overcome the current difficulties inherent in a project of this scope. The vision of a renovated Field of Memory, but still faithful to its original mission, can then be realized. It will be built on the legacy of the Dachau Memorial, erected in 1965, which has remained very valuable to the International Dachau Committee.
Finally, our field of action cannot stop at the walls of this building. The Memory of the Deportation must be kept alive in all the countries of our Europe, in order to awaken the conscience and the responsibility of each citizen, to confront the rise of extremes and to protect our models of democracy. It is up to us to revive and accompany this memory wherever it is weakening, through our national representations and the dedicated authorities of each country, but also with the collaboration of other international committees. The International Dachau Committee will remain very committed to this goal.
Image CID Gianluca Mazzullo
The memory of the camps is a unifying factor and a point of contact for the descendants of deportees. It remains the indestructible link between the crime of the past and the hopes for a world at peace and free of any violation of human dignity.
The sacrifices of our heroes of yesterday and the considerable efforts put into this memorial must not remain in vain.
Only you, dear audience, can make our hopes, your hopes, the reality of tomorrow, after your visit to this place.
I thank you for your attention
