Holocaust survivor: “What Israel is doing is horrible”

euronews (in English)

Corrie Hermann addressed the European Parliament in Brussels to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, recalling her father’s history. Pál Hermann, one of the greatest cellists of his era, was killed in a concentration camp, but his cello has survived to this day. Hermann spoke to Euronews.

Transcript

00:00It's important to see what has happened and caused the Holocaust death of one victim

00:09because there are six million victims.

00:12And so we all should be aware how important that is.

00:20What do you feel when you see this cello, this instrument that belonged to your father?

00:27It's something very special because I have very few things which were from my father.

00:36In the last years of his life he had to move from Paris to Toulouse.

00:42From Toulouse he was just arrested and taken away.

00:48So I don't have any other thing of his possessions.

00:53I have some children's memories, some toys which I was given as a child,

00:59but nothing of his adult life.

01:02And the cello is the one thing which was the most important in his adult life.

01:08So seeing that again is something very, very special.

01:13At that time you were a child.

01:17Yes.

01:18So we have your perspective.

01:22How did you live all this period?

01:25Because sometimes we have some survivors that were older at the time of the Holocaust

01:33and the Nazi repression.

01:35How did you live this period?

01:38Well, when I am thinking of my father, I am thinking of the man he was.

01:44The musician, the ever-optimist, ever-ambitious man who tried all his life to make the most of it,

01:56to make the most of his music, the most of his family relations, the most of everything.

02:03And it's, of course, very, very sad that those last two or three months of his life have been so horrible.

02:13But I try not to think too much of that, because it makes me sad and I cannot do anything about it.

02:20So I try to remember the man he was, the man I loved, the man who was loved by everyone around.

02:30Do you think it's important nowadays, still after so many years,

02:36to remember the Holocaust in the sight of the fact that things like this will never happen again?

02:44History is something very, very important.

02:50History never repeats itself, but history can make us aware of the dangers of what is happening in everyday life nowadays,

03:03so that we can do the right things for the future, for our children and the future inhabitants of this world.

03:15I don't know if you noticed this, but during the minute of silence today in the European Parliament,

03:23there was one MEP shouting, pray for the victims of Gaza.

03:28I would like to have your opinion, as a survivor of the Holocaust and also as a Jewish person,

03:34on what is happening today in the Middle East.

03:39I am, from October 7th last year, the Hamas attack on Israel, very, very much aware of what's happening there.

03:52And I am amazed, really amazed, and I think it's horrible that Israel, who has a history of persecution through the ages,

04:04should now bomb Gaza so terribly, bomb hospitals, kill children, doesn't allow food,

04:14so that it is the population, the citizens, which do suffer.

04:21I can quite understand that Israel wants to eliminate Hamas, but Hamas is more than an army, Hamas is an ideology.

04:31And the way they are going about it is, well, something horrible again.

04:41And my last question is, at your age, what are your plans for the future?

04:49My plans for the future, well, I am 92, so my personal plans for the future is to enjoy life when I can enjoy it,

04:59as to my health and so on, but I do hope for my grandchildren, my two granddaughters who are present here nowaday,

05:09I hope that they are aware of what's happening, learn the lessons from history,

05:16and help everyone to make a better future.

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