Premier: Remembering Victims of Nazi Crimes Shouldn't Be Just about Memorial Day

Bratislava, September 9 (TASR) - Remembering the victims of Nazi crimes shouldn't be a one-day affair, but one of the most important moral pillars of our daily actions, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said on the occasion of the Day of Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence on Tuesday. In a video on a social network, he stressed the importance of both peace messages and education to prevent the calculated rewriting of history. The premier pointed out that the fascist propaganda that led to the horrors of the Second World War has never been completely eliminated, nor all those who committed atrocities in the name of this propaganda have been punished. "Thousands of them survived hidden all over the world. Seeing the softness of the international community, they continued to spread their messages," he pointed out. Fico stated that hatred and racism are part of our lives. "They are even gaining momentum and subtly making their way into common language, becoming socially accepted," he warned. The prime minister therefore stated that it is not enough to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and racial violence one day a year. "It's necessary to act on a daily basis, not just on the memorial day of 9 September. Peaceful ideas need to be put on the daily agenda, memory needs to be revived, the study of the past needs to be called for, reading needs to be done. It's our duty not to forget and to prevent the calculated rewriting of history," he stressed. Slovakia commemorates 9 September as a national memorial day – the Day of the Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence. On this day in 1941, the wartime Slovak government adopted a Jewish Code that introduced a separate legal regime for citizens of Jewish origin and faith, significantly restricting their civil, religious, social and basic human rights on the territory of the then Slovakia. The decree consolidated legal regulations enforcing the social, economic, and civil degradation of Jews, which ultimately led to their deportation to Nazi concentration camps. am