Education key to fighting anti-Semitism, says Mitsotakis

A day after Greece assumed the rotating presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday affirmed the country’s commitment to the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.

“Memory means empathy. We have an obligation in the present to educate [people] about the past,” Mitsotakis said in Parliament.

“Education is the weapon of the reasonable man. [Being able] to draw conclusions on the basis of experience and reason: This is the best defense against dogma and hysteria,” he said.

Greece’s presidency of IHRA coincides with the bicentennial of the country’s War of Independence against Ottoman rule. 

“Modern Greece was founded on humanitarian values and universal freedoms,” Mitsotakis said.

“Our commitment to the battle against racism and anti-Semitism is rooted in the core of these values and freedoms,” he said.

Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

The Greek presidency will run a series of events throughout the year dedicated to Holocaust remembrance.