In the presence of Poland's president Lech Walesa and other world dignitaries, Mr. Rabin paid tribute to the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto who perished in their struggle against the Nazis half a century earlier. He recalled their courage and the need to fight racism and anti-Semitism. "The days of Jewish helplessness are over, " he declared. Israel "will defend every Jew and serve as a refuge for Jews everywhere. " Text:
We have come today from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the State of Israel. We have come from Jerusalem, the city of the prophets and of peace, in order to pay respects to the fallen - and to salute the courage of the few. of whom still remain alive.
Here, on this square kilometer, stood the Warsaw Ghetto - a remnant of the 400,000 Jews who lived in this city, and the city is empty. Where are the scribes? Where are the rabbis? the doctors? the musicians? Where are the simple folk? And where are the children? Where is Janusz Korczak?
Scorched earth and a scorched people. My people are no more.
Here, and in other ghettos, they fought without a chance of defeating the Nazis. They fought from the roof-tops of houses and from drainage sewers, the cellars and courtyards, behind collapsing walls and rooms engulfed in flames. But none of them had a chance. Despite this, they were victorious. In human history, the rebels of the ghetto will remain and be remembered as those who watched over the coals of honor. Their honor was the last asset of 1,000 years of Polish Jewry which were consumed by fire - and whose honor was not lost.
They are written forever upon the scroll of agony and fire of the Jewish people.
We have risen from the ashes of the victims and we continue. The courage of the ghetto fighters was the cornerstone of the foundation of the State of Israel. We are continuing from the same place, from the same painful hours and from the same last moments when the hearts of millions of Jews, and many others, ceased to beat. We are the realization of the last dream and hope of the six million - who are no more.
We have come to tell you and ourselves that, even if man betrayed us in this place in the Warsaw Ghetto, even if our faith in mankind proved false then, we believe - and will continue to believe - in the spirit of the human race. We still believe that people, and countries, can change and treat others (in the words of our ancestors) with a "new heart and new spirit."
Fifty years thereafter, we still refuse to believe. The brain still does not absorb. The heart is still enraged. But we have no aspiration for revenge. Fifty years thereafter. We believe that every nation must make its historical account -and many nations of the world have a heavy debt to our historical account, Nations must examine their past and draw their lessons,
There were those who believed that racism would be gone from the world with the fall of the Nazis. This is incorrect. Fifty years after the failure of Hitler, successors have risen up in various corners of the world.
The most dangerous are those who call for the destruction of Israel and who justify their calls with similar motives. Still, the days of Jewish helplessness are over. We, the Jewish state, will defend every Jew and serve as a refuge for Jews everywhere.
On one of the Holocaust memorials in Poland, it is written: "Let our tragedy be a warning to you." The obligation of the entire world is to draw lessons from the Holocaust - and woe is he who denies this. Recently, [the numbers of those] who deny [the Holocaust] are increasing and, about this, it is said that the Nazis took the lives of the Jews; now, those who deny the Holocaust are attempting to take their deaths. Accordingly, let the terrible tragedy - the destruction of one-third of our people - serve as a warning to the entire world.
We have come here tonight, in order to strengthen [our] friendship with the Polish people - among whom there were also those who stretched out a hand [in assistance] and did not stand by when darkness fell upon Europe. We have come to pay respect to those of the Polish people who tried, with the remainder of their meager power and at the risk of their lives, to strike a blow to the Nazi beast.
Standing with me in this square tonight are the millions of citizens of the State of Israel and the millions of the Jewish people. And we do not forget and we find it difficult to forgive. Everywhere we go, the memory of the Holocaust goes with us.
By force of the recognition of what we lost during the Holocaust, and with faith in a better future, I stand here in Warsaw - where the ghetto was destroyed - with the millions of free people who certainly join me in my call this evening [and say]: enough violence, enough wars.