With a commemorative event in Brussels, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) marked the 81st International Holocaust Remembrance Day while also recalling the Nuremberg Trials, which this year mark their 80th anniversary. The central question before around 400 guests, including diplomats from Europe and around the world, MEPs, and representatives of Jewish organisations, was what significance Nuremberg still holds today in the face of growing antisemitism.
The EJC explicitly placed the evening in the context of the current threat to Jewish communities. Antisemitism in Europe continues to rise, and Jewish institutions and their members remain targets of violence and murder attempts, it was said. Against this backdrop, it must remain clear that there can be no impunity for antisemitic crimes.
EJC Executive Vice-President Raya Kalenova recalled the scale of the Shoah in her opening speech. “Millions of lives were destroyed, families annihilated, dreams and futures stolen.” At the same time, Nuremberg provided a legal framework for the Nazi crimes: “Nuremberg gave these atrocities a name. It created a record. It gave humanity an answer: justice.”
Kalenova emphasised the enduring relevance of the Nuremberg Trials. It was there that terms such as genocide and crimes against humanity were defined for the first time – “not for politics, not for rhetoric, but for historical truth and justice.” At the same time, she warned against casual misuse of these terms. “Abuse of these terms, which are subject to clear legal criteria and require proof of intent as only an international court can determine, fuels violence in our societies and can have terrible consequences.”
A central feature of the evening was the screening of the film Nuremberg by US director James Vanderbilt, starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek. The film examines the Nuremberg Trials as the foundation of modern international law and accountability mechanisms. Especially at a time when Jewish communities worldwide face pressure, the event highlighted the need to reflect on the lessons of Nuremberg.
The Head of the Israeli Mission to the EU and NATO, Ambassador Avi Nir-Feldklein, painted a sombre picture of the present in his speech. “The reality Jews face today in the democratic, liberal world more closely resembles the days leading to the Nuremberg Laws than the world the Nuremberg Trials sought to shape,” he said.
MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White, a member of the European Parliament’s working group on antisemitism, also emphasised the contemporary relevance of the historical reference. “To remember Nuremberg is to recall that justice and memory do not belong solely to the past, but constitute a lasting responsibility,” he said.
In the face of a renewed rise in antisemitism, hatred, and intolerance, commitment to human rights, democracy, and the dignity of every individual must be reaffirmed – “as non-negotiable pillars of our society.”
In conclusion, Kalenova once again stressed the significance of the Nuremberg Trials for collective memory. “The trials transformed horror into memory,” she said. “They turned chaos into evidence, destruction into testimony, and evil into accountability.” Nuremberg showed where dehumanisation, hatred, and mass violence lead – and what consequences must follow.ted and they would like to see more support, more solidarity.”
