You are here: 2000 / Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches / Reception at the Stockholm City Hall / Opening Remarks by Lord Janner of Braunstone
	Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme				Opening Remarks by Lord Janner of Braunstone Message by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Wim Kok Message by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Message by the Prime Minister of Austria, Viktor Klima Speech by Professor Eberhart Jäckel Opening Remarks by Lord Janner of Braunstone of Braunstone, Janner Opening Remarks Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry to disturb you, the sooner we start, the sooner you get to bed! Mina damer och herrar, välkommen till detta underbara Stadshus! Which I am reliably informed and grately hope means: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this wonderful Town Hall. I am very happy to chair this meeting. I am Lord Janner, I am from the British Parliament and I bring you greetings. I am chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust and I welcome you. And as your Prime Minister said, there never has been a meeting like this in the history of meetings and that, ladies and gentlemen, is because there’s never been a Prime Minister like you, the Swedish Prime Minister, in any parliament. We thank him not only for convening this extraordinary meeting, not only for attracting the most remarkable gathering of leaders for any educational issue in history, but especially for accepting yesterday in the Synagogue and today here, that his country has, and I quote: ”A moral and political responsibility for what he did and did not do during the years of the Holocaust”. That is a worthy response, it heals wounds. And I ask you to join me in thanking Prime Minister Göran Persson, their Majesties the King and Queen, the Government, the Opposition and the People of Sweden for the welcome that they have given to all of us in Stockholm. Thank you – Tack så mycket. This conference does not stand on its own, ladies and gentlemen. It is part of a process in which we have all been involved. I started as the youngest War crimes investigator in the British army of the Rhine at the age of 18. The search for war criminals is a continuing process. In Britain we have recently found two. That process has an educational value, because it reminds people through the media of what happened. Then came the London Nazi Gold Conference, dealing with restitution, followed by the Washington Conference, dealing with research and restitution, and especially with art and insurance. And restitution is partly for justice, a measure of justice for the survivors and their families while they live. But it is also education to the world as what happened. And now this conference is focused on education, learing about and from the Holocaust for its own sake. Learning from the Holocaust so as to cast a beacon of light from this tragedy of the Jewish people in the past, so is to promote what Elie Wiesel this afternoon called conscience and humanity, what Yehuda Bauer counselled as to turn from a prescedent into a warning. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a marvellous opportunity for us all. It is a great conference and I thank you all so very much for coming. >> Back to top				Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Plenary Session 1 Plenary Session 2 Reception at the Stockholm City Hall Written Messages Workshops, Panels and Seminars Closing Session and Declaration Other Activities
For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden