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.
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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.