Michael Schudrich. The testimonies of witnesses and Bełżec survivors were also read out during the event.
In the letter addressed to the attendees of the ceremony, the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, remarked that: The Memory of the Holocaust of Jews prevails and stands as a warning to every next generation. It warns about the aftermath of any totalitarian regime that is based on the imperialistic ideology and racist contempt for other nations. We honour the victims of the Holocaust and put every effort so that those who were bestially murdered can rest in places treated with dignity and respect. […] The currently waged war reminds us that the memory of the victims of Aktion Reinhardt is a warning to us, today. We must prevent any imperialistic designs, we must condemn any calls for hatred, we must take decisive measures against any hostility and aggression. I firmly believe that the free world will never exhaust their strength nor consistency in this endeavour. We carry this obligation entrusted within the memory of the murdered fellow Jewish citizens and neighbours. The attendees were also addressed by the Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki. In the letter read out during the ceremony he remarked that: Today’s ceremony constitutes an homage to the victims murdered here, in Bełżec, between March and December 1942. Homage to all the victims of operation “Reinhardt” – the shameful implementation of the mass extermination of European Jews. Today we wish to manifest our enduring memory of the victims of the Holocaust. A crime that shall forever be a warning to the mankind, a warning about the aftermath of an ideology that any race or ethnicity of any peoples contradicts their humanity.
The ceremony was the first event held in recognition of the the 80th anniversary of operation “Reinhardt”, co-organised by the State Museum at Majdanek.
Further commemorative projects and events are going to be organised between March 2022 and November 2023.