"The last survivors of the deportation, such as Abba Naor or Jean Lafaurie here today, and many others, never cease to bear witness to young people, at the cost of an inordinate effort due to their advanced age, but guided by an unparalleled motivation. Nothing is more alarming than to hear their own voices expressing concern about a world that is once again threatening and forgetting the lessons of the past."

The years 2024 and 2025 are synonymous for us, those involved in remembrance, with important milestones. On 6 June, on the beaches of Normandy, we will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings, which opened the gates to the liberation of Europe from the yoke of the Nazi invaders. On 29 April 2025, we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau camp by the American army.

More than ever, we must pay tribute to the thousands of young soldiers who came from another continent to defend our freedoms. Thousands of them perished under enemy fire.

The celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, which I had the privilege of attending on 6 June 2014, brought together all the heads of state without exception and gave the image of a front united in remembrance of the victims of the Second World War, and in the search for a world of peace, despite everything against the backdrop of the Russian occupation of the autonomous republic of Crimea, very recent since 27 February 2014.

On 6 June, the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, this united front could appear to be cracked, just like a building that has not been properly maintained, whose foundations have not been dug deep enough and are buckling under the bad weather that shakes it.

The balance established after the 1940-1945 conflict and the advent of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 opened up the world to a new area of peace and freedom, but it has to be said that it remains fragile. The competition between the major geopolitical blocs, which is still omnipresent, nevertheless determines the development of the economic and social policies of peoples, and sometimes their freedom.

The invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the attack by Hamas on the State of Israel on 7 October 2023, the persistence of conflicts in various regions of the world, more or less known and communicated, the resurgence of racist and anti-Semitic acts in our societies, the threat of obscurantism, the rise of extreme right-wing politics in the run-up to the European elections, are all indicators that call for extreme vigilance.
Last but not least are the attacks on the culture of remembrance by certain coalitions within Europe itself. Attacks that would like to call into question the usefulness of our action and reduce the resources made available to us.

The last survivors of the deportation, such as Abba Naor or Jean Lafaurie here today, and many others, never cease to bear witness to young people, at the cost of an inordinate effort due to their advanced age, but guided by an unparalleled motivation. Nothing is more alarming than to hear their own voices expressing concern about a world that is once again threatening and forgetting the lessons of the past.

We must ensure that the disappearance of the last survivors does not leave room for the sole influencers and manipulators of opinion that we know. It is with good reason that the various memorials and international camp committees are considering the necessary transformation of our remembrance policy. How can we get the descendants and witnesses of witnesses more involved? How to reach out to the public and raise awareness. How can we become more involved in the political arena when our values are under threat?

The values I am addressing come from the oaths of former deportees from the various camps. Allow me to recall the most significant extracts from some of them:

Buchenwald: "Our cause is just, victory will be ours. Our ideal is to build a new world in peace and freedom".

Mauthausen: "Peace and freedom are the guarantee of the happiness of peoples. Building the world on new foundations of social and national justice is the only way for states and peoples to work together peacefully".

Dachau: "We swear, in order to remain faithful to the union and comradeship born of suffering and combat, to devote ourselves to bringing peoples together in peace with a view to ensuring their security, independence and freedom".

Ravensbruck (the women's camp that I deliberately saved for last): "We express the wish that our children will consider the free existence of human beings as a supreme value, that the right to life, the right to personal dignity and the right to freedom can never be violated. In the coexistence of peoples, social equality and justice must replace all aspirations to domination".

All these oaths, to which we must remain faithful, call on us to remain mobilised against the resurgence of ideologies of hatred and exclusion. More than ever, our fight remains that of freedom, democracy and peace.

Thank you for your attention.