TORONTO — Canadian Supreme Court justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, left, declared last week that the best way to pay tribute to Holocaust survivors is to ensure that the battle for global human rights is won.
Abella, who was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany to Holocaust survivors, said that democratic values must be promoted to prevent injustice and further atrocities.
The first Jewish woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court, she delivered her comments during Holocaust Education Week at a forum under the auspices of the Holocaust Centre of Toronto and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
Addressing a capacity audience at Beth Sholom Synagogue, the 62-year-old jurist spoke in measured tones, but momentarily choked up with emotion toward the close of her speech.
Observing that the Holocaust left a “searing imprint in our collective consciousness” and ushered in modern human rights law, Abella said that the world must do everything in its power to prevent genocide.
Abella – whose brother was murdered in Treblinka and whose father was the only person in his family to survive the Holocaust – spoke of the importance of upholding the values of democracy, decency, integrity and compassion in a universe where the most basic forms of human rights are constantly flouted.
Despite the enactment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the convening of the Nuremberg war crimes trial in the wake of World War II, she noted lamentably, terrible abuses have occurred in places ranging from Rwanda to Darfur.
Warning that indifference to the plight of the oppressed leads to a denial of human rights and even genocide, Abella said that the promotion of democracy is essential to combat such developments. In too many corners of the globe, she mused, democratic values and tolerance are given short shrift.
In a blistering critique, Abella said that the international community appears to be reluctant to confront injustice. Yet silence in the face of injustice fosters intolerance, she warned.
Words of justice are not enough, she added, saying that democratic norms must be enforced.
Decrying the fact that the “never again” slogan has been continually disregarded since the Holocaust, she said this is inexplicable, unforgivable and an insult to Holocaust survivors.
Abella started her speech with a Yiddish phrase expressing pleasure to have been invited to Holocaust Education Week.
Saying she was moved by the size of the audience, Abella voiced pride at being a child of Holocaust survivors.
Abella said she is still in awe at the strength and tenacity of survivors who rebuilt their lives in Canada after the war.
Survivors, such as her own parents, were always grateful for the freedom Canada offered them.
In a brief survey of the events that led up to Kristallnacht 70 years ago this month, Abella suggested that the Holocaust was the end result of the world’s indifference to the Nazi persecution of Jews.
Abella commented that the postwar generation has a moral obligation to keep alive the memory of Holocaust victims.
