3rd ministerial seminar "Teaching remembrance: cultural heritage - yesterday, today and tomorrow". Prague and Terezin (Czech Republic), 24-25 April 2006

Speech by Petra Buzková, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic

Terezin, 24.4.2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me welcome you on behalf of the Government of the Czech Republic and express my pleasure that you have accepted our invitation. I hope you will find your visit to this country and the special program we have prepared for you inspiring and your stay here worth remembering.

The topics we are going to discuss today and tomorrow are not a finished chapter. When you say Terezín, an overwhelming majority of the citizens of this country know very well what happened here. But for many of them events that occurred sixty years ago are just part of history. Something that is fortunately over, perhaps a warning, but something that is definitely the past. In my opinion such an approach is very short-sighted.

There is no doubt that Nazism and the Second World War are the most horrible chapters of the history of mankind. There is no doubt that they always will be the subjects of heated discussions and analyses. However, it is of primary importance to address the links between the cruelty and fanaticism of Nazism at that time and the current forms of racial hatred. This, understandably, mostly concerns the young generation whose awareness of history is only developing and who are therefore more prone to manipulation and distorted and biased interpretation. It is one of the greatest educational tasks to point out to pupils and students that there certainly are links between brown terror and the violence of the “skinheads”, between racism and the hateful behaviour of some football fans, etc. I do not think it is appropriate to equal Nazi crimes and the rowdiness of young, frustrated radicals. However, we definitely must continue to point to a number of identical features, similar trends and, most importantly, the danger inherent in what may only seem to be excesses of hooliganism. It would be a great mistake to underestimate this work. And one usually pays price for great mistakes.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that the seminar “Teaching Remembrance: Cultural Heritage – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” will contribute to the efforts we all make to avoid such mistakes.

Thank you for you attention.