Pope Francis: The horror of the Holocaust must never be repeated
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter to his friend Rabbi Abraham Skorka
of Buenos Aires on the occasion of Holocaust Memorial Day which is marked on January
27th. The letter will be read out Monday evening at a concert in Rome entitled “Violins
of Hope”.
Lydia O’Kane reports. Listen
In the
hand written letter to Rabbi Abraham Skorka, the Pope the describes the Holocaust
as a horror and a disgrace to humanity that must never be repeated. It will be read
out on Monday evening at a concert at Rome’s Parco della Musica entitled “Violins
of Hope” commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day.
The Pope writes that the audience
will be hearing pieces including works by Barber, Vivaldi and Beethoven, but he stresses
that behind the sound of music, the hearts of each of those present will be able to
make out the silent sound of tears.
To add to the poignancy of the evening,
twelve violins that survived the Holocaust will be played together for the first time
at the concert. The instruments were discovered and restored by Israeli violin maker
Amnon Weinstein.
Among them is a violin that accompanied the deportees to the
gas chambers of Auschwitz and another one thrown from a train en route to the camp.