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Speech by Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering Tuppurainen at the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony on 26 January 2023

Government Communications Department
Publication date 26.1.2023 17.30
Speech
Minister Tytti Tuppurainen, facial picture.

Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering Tytti Tuppurainen spoke at the ceremony to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Helsinki on 26 January 2023. Speech to be checked against delivery.

Ladies and gentlemen, hyvät naiset ja herrat, mina damer och herrar!
 
I have an honour to deliver a message from the government of Finland for the remembrance of the Holocaust. Remembering the horrors of genocide in Europe becomes more difficult each year the time passes, since each year there will less and less people who witnessed it themselves. It becomes difficult to understand: who were the perpetrators, what were their motives, how did they explain their actions to themselves? How was it possible that the perpetrators took photographs proving their crimes, that they wrote to their family members describing what they did. And how everybody knew what was happening everybody from Marseille to Tallinn, from Amsterdam to Athens – everybody knew. How was it possible?
 
The people who lived in 1930’ and 1940’s Europe did not turn into monsters overnight. The original sin of Europe, antisemitism, was old, having grown its roots for about two millennia. The Age of Enlightenment made the ancient motivations of antisemitism, namely blaming Jews being murderers of Christ, redundant in the Western Europe. While in the East, that is, in the Russian Empire, the old antisemitism was kept alive, the West soon created a counter-Enlightenment ideologues based on racial theories. These theories saw the Earth as a great battlefield of races and nations. These theories saw the Earth’s resources far too small for Humanity that had one billion, two billion members. Only the ruthless were to survive.
 
We know, of course, that these racial theories were not based on science. They were based on myths and used the pseudo-scientific nonsense as a cover for their ideology. They were based on lies and shameless propaganda. This propaganda saw Judaism as great global challenger of Europe. If there were successful Jewish entrepreneurs, it was proof that a free-market economy was a plot to make European peoples slaves for international capitalism. If there were Jewish labour leaders, it was proof that Social Democracy was a plot to destroy the conservative values of old Europe. 
 
Everything was proof of a Great Conspiracy. And if the conspiracy was too complicated to be true it was yet another proof how devious the Jewish people behind it were.
 
Dear friends,
 
The grim history of Europe of the whole world is not over. After several decades of globalisation that lifted billions of people from poverty and hunger to a decent standard of living, we now once again see signs of new counter-Enlightenment. Once again, we witness conspiracy theories that should be ridiculed but instead are seen trustworthy for many of our countrymen. There is conspiracy of poisoning people by Covid-vaccinations. There is World Economic Forum planning a New World Order. The madness sees no limits.
And, no, it is not because of the internet or the social media. The conspiracy theories of 20th century were quite effectively distributed via printed material, and, later via radiobroadcasts. One cannot blame the media. Media reflects the Zeitgeist, not the other way around.
 
Today the expressions of racism have become more commonplace. The racism of today is usually directed towards people from Africa and Middle East. There is growing acceptance of Islamophobia. While open antisemitism – that is attacking the Jews openly – does not rule European streets, there is every reason to see that such is becoming possible. We have heard and read about the Great Replacement Theory, a theory that sees an ongoing replacement of a white European race by immigrants from Africa and Middle East. This theory is only a step away from pointing out that there must some people planning this replacement. The Recipe for new antisemitism is already there.
 
Dear listeners – hyvät kuulijat!
 
Suomessa tämä synkkä merkkipäivä on nimeltään Vainojen uhrien muistopäivä. En voi sanoa olevani tyytyväinen siihen, että juutalaisten ja romanien joukkotuhontaa ei muisteta Holokaustin uhrien muistopäivänä. On tärkeä korostaa, että Holokausti oli suunnitelmallisuutensa, julmuutensa ja teollisen mittakaavan toteutuksensa puolesta ainutlaatuisen hirveä. Ja että se tapahtui yleisen lukutaidon ja joukkotiedotusvälineiden aikana, valistuneen Euroopan keskellä. 
 
Den här dystra dagens finska namn betyder ”minnesdagen för förföljelsens offer”. Jag kan inte säga mig vara särskilt nöjd över att folkmordet på judar och romer inte uppmärksammas som ”minnesdagen för Förintelsens offer” också på finska. Det är viktigt att betona att Förintelsen var en fasansfull händelse vars like aldrig har skådats i en sådan systematisk, grym och industriell skala. Och att den ägde rum i en tid av massmedier och allmän läskunnighet, i centrum av ett upplyst Europa.
 
Dear listeners, 

I am not comfortable of the Finnish name of this Day of Remembrance, because it does not recognise the unique horror of the Holocaust.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
We have to recognise the Holocaust as the most evil act perpetrated in human history, and understand that nothing compares to that. 
However, I must point out that the current, ongoing barbaric attack of Russia against Ukraine reminds us of a genocide. It has a commonplace mythology of a genocide: it claims that there is no Ukrainian nation, and therefor eradicating Ukraine language and culture would mean bringing order to the world. It has methods of genocide: murdering the leaders of the Ukrainian civil society, kidnapping Ukrainian children, deporting Ukrainian people to remote parts of Russia. 

Above all, it has an ideology of genocide. It nurtures conspiracy theories. To the extreme Right it tells that the Satanic, perverted West is using Ukraine to destroy pure Christian Russia. To the old Communist fringe, it tells that NATO and United States fight to enslave peoples to capitalist world order. And, yes, if this sounds impossible combination, it only proves that the conspiracy is unbelievably dangerous.
 
Moreover, the Current Russian ideology has a founding father right from the darkest corners of the 20th century. A few years ago, only a handful of historians – American Timothy Snyder above all – saw something meaningful happening when a Fascist ideologue Ivan Ilyin was made respectable in Russia. Ilyin was a monarchist, creator of myths that saw Russia as a great Christian martyr and saviour of the world. Ten years ago, twenty years ago, such ideas were fantasies from the past. Today the Russian foreign minister and Russian president repeat those fantasies. Interestingly, the terminology has altered: Socialist Soviet Union avoided using the words “National Socialism” and fought Fascism – today Russia does not fight Fascists but Nazis.
 
Hyvät naiset ja herrat,
 
Antisemitismin ja rasismin torjuminen sen kaikissa muodoissaan on Sanna Marinin hallituksen agendalla. Julkaisimme vuonna 2019 Suomen kolmannen Kansallisen väkivaltaisen radikalisoitumisen ja ekstremismin ennalta ehkäisyn toimenpideohjelman. Niin ikään Rasismin vastainen ja hyvien väestösuhteiden toimintaohjelma on tärkeä Sanna Marinin hallituksen syrjinnän vastaiselle työlle.
 
Osana Suomen EU-puheenjohtajuuskautta vuonna 2019 järjestin korkean tason keskustelutilaisuuden EU-maiden sekä EU-jäsenehdokasmaiden suurlähettiläille. Käsittelimme tässä samassa Säätytalossa arvokkaassa tilaisuudessa, kuinka voisimme paremmin torjua vihapuhetta, viharikoksia ja antisemitismiä. Keskusteluissa nousi selvästi esille, että kyseessä on universaali ongelma, joka koskettaa kaikkia Euroopan maita. Eurooppalainen yhteistyö ja hyvien käytäntöjen jakaminen ovat ensiarvoisen tärkeitä näiden ilmiöiden torjumisessa.
 
Syksyllä 2021 Euroopan komissio esitti ensimmäisen EU:n strategian antisemitismin torjumiseksi ja juutalaisen elämäntavan vaalimiseksi. On tärkeää, että torjumme antisemitismin sen kaikissa muodoissaan yhdessä, yhtenä eurooppalaisena rintamana. Kyse on yhteisten arvojemme puolustamisesta.

In autumn 2021, the European Commission presented the first-ever EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. It is important that we combat antisemitism in all its forms together, as a united European front. This is about defending our common values.

Dear friends!
 
Remembering history is itself valuable. There is a Jewish saying, rising from Talmud, that if person is remembered she or he is not completely dead. She lives in our memory. However, I see the remembrance of Holocaust as warning. If we can foresee the acceptance of racism, acceptance of conspiracies as a path leading to a genocide, we can avoid the worst outcome.
 
Holokausti muistetaan juutalaisten joukkotuhontana. Emme saa unohtaa, että se oli myös Porajmos, Euroopan romaniväestön joukkotuhonta. Mikä olikaan sen kyynisempää ja julmempaa kuin ajatus siitä, että juutalaisten tuhoamiskoneisto olisi sopiva myös poistamaan rasisteja kiusanneet romanit? Tämä romanien sorto ja rasismi on nykypäivän Euroopassa yhä voimissaan. Muistakaamme Holokausti, muistakaamme Porajmos. 
 
Let us not forget the mass murder of Jews, let us not forget the mass murder of Roma people. Let us remember and learn. More importantly: it is our common duty to act.

 
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