This raises an alarming question about the awareness and responsibility of politicians, journalists, educators, historians and people like me. The choice is simple: either we collectively put forward a clear and absolute stop to hate speech and acts of hate. Or we will walk down the path of indifference. The latter option, however, only leads to acquiescence to evil. It will only bring us closer to human suffering and death.
On the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Ronald Lauder - the man who publicly refused to shake hands with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, a former Nazi - said: "World silence leads to Auschwitz. World indifference leads to Auschwitz."
I believe he was right. Freedom, democracy, human rights, justice. These are not values given once and for all. We quickly forget about them and treat them as a definitive acquisition of civilization.
Now would be a good time for us to remember words of Elie Wiesel, who warned: "indifference is the epitome of evil."
We stand at a crossroads. This is the moment - perhaps the last moment - when people in free countries can still choose how to shape our educational system, public debate and the language we use in our political discourse.
Either we grasp this opportunity and reject this hatred. Or, we choose to remain indifferent.
Ronald Lauder speaking during the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2015 (photo: Jarosław Praszkiewicz)