Shoah, honor from Germany to Liliana Segre

Life Senator Liliana Segre received an honor from Germany today. “I am very honored but also deeply impressed,” she said, receiving it from the hands of the German ambassador Viktor Elbling. “It is an opportunity to meditate on my long and painful path of reconciliation with Germany”. The ceremony in the Sala Zuccari of Palazzo Giustiniani of the Senate of the Italian Republic during which he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic. The honor was conferred on her in 2020 by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier “for her extraordinary commitment to remember the Shoah and the tireless fight against hatred and intolerance”. “I see again – underlined Segre – the historic gesture of Chancellor Willy Brandt, who in 1970 in the general surprise knelt in Warsaw in front of the war memorial in the Ghetto. I think back to the thousands of German intellectuals and teachers who, over the decades, rebelling to the previous oblivion, they did an extraordinary job so that the new generations, born after the war, could deal with the nation’s past, with a commitment that is an example for many European countries, including Italy “. “My thoughts also go to President Steinmeier and Chancellor Merkel, who today wisely lead a Germany, a bulwark of democracy and a messenger of peace in the world, as well as to President Ursula von der Leyen – whom I had the pleasure of personally meeting – vera champion of an ever more united and supportive Europe, against nationalisms and obscurantisms. I thank my friends Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, president of the Senate, and Noemi Di Segni, president of UCEI, who wanted to be by my side on a day like this for me particular and full of meanings. I dedicate this honor to the memory of my dear Alberto, Olga and Giuseppe Segre “.