Respected Members of the Jewish Community in the Republic of Macedonia,
Esteemed Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

Deshame entrar Yo me hare lugar – Allow me to enter, and I will make room for myself, says one ladino proverb.

Displaced by powerful empires, persecuted by inquisitors and suppressed by pogroms, here, in Macedonia many Jews found their second home.

For centuries, the Jews were accepted and respected as real compatriots, as inseparable and inalienable part of Macedonia, in the spirit of the Macedonian model of coexistence.

To this end are the words of Moritz Romano who wrote that the Macedonians did not see strangers in the Jews, but natives.
That Jews did not live by the Christians, but with the Christians.
That for the Jews, Macedonia was not foreign, but a holy land.

The Jews enriched every part of the public and economic life in Macedonia. As hardworking artisans, craftsmen and shopkeepers, they introduced a new entrepreneurial spirit in our bazaar. Through art and music, they refined the Macedonian culture.

In times of peace and coexistence, and in times of injustice and oppression, the Jews shared the destiny of the Macedonian people. But they also shared the desire for freedom. Rafael Kamhi, one of the bearers of the idea for free and independent Macedonia and participant in the Ilinden Uprising, held that "freedom should be the first thing on the mind of all enslaved peoples".

The tree that for centuries yielded rich fruits for Macedonia, in a moment was cut down and taken away.

Respected Attendees,

On March 11, 1943, according to the agreement between Nazi Germany and fascist Bulgaria, the Bulgarian army and police gathered almost all the Jews from occupied Macedonia.

The Jews, who as a community in Macedonia endured for centuries, in only a few days were captured, locked and pushed into livestock wagons and sent to the death camp. The community which has existed for centuries, only in a few hours in Treblinka was almost completely destroyed.

At no other place during the Holocaust was a population extinguished so completely and so quickly.

In the gas chambers and furnaces of Treblinka, one part of Macedonia disappeared forever. Since those dire days, the life in Macedonia was no longer the same. Numb were the Jewish neighborhoods, deserted were the Jewish houses. The cities of Skopje, Bitola and Stip were deeply wounded. Thus, through the suffering of the Jews in Treblinka, Macedonia suffered too.

Those who survived the monstrosity of the Holocaust became part of the National Liberation and Anti-Fascist struggle in Macedonia. Among them were heroes, fighters and guerrillas. They fought and won freedom for Macedonia.

70 years ago, one of the survivors, Isaac Sion from Stip, was among the founders of the Macedonian state at the First Session of ASNOM. The free Macedonian state was born on ASNOM, in which the Jewish community flourished again. Thus, from the cut Jewish tree, a new sapling has grown.

Dear Friends,

We are here today with a feeling of deep gratitude for this sapling that emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust.

We are grateful for the Jewish community that is built into our model of coexistence and our democratic society.

We are grateful for the Jewish community since it became a bridge of friendship between the Republic of Macedonia and the State of Israel.

We are grateful for the Jewish community because it reminds us how important it is to cherish the memory of our compatriots. Often I say that the Memorial Center is not just a museum, but also a school in which every visitor can learn what monstrous acts a man is capable of doing when rejecting the spirit of humanity given by God.

Therefore, it is important for us that the memory of the destruction of the Macedonian Jews does not fade away, and that the life and progress of the Jewish community in Macedonia continues.

It is our duty, as citizens but primarily as humans, to keep and nurture that sapling since Macedonia cannot be complete without it.

Therefore, in the days of the Feast of Lights - Hanukkah, may this recognition awarded to the Jewish community be a ray of light.

As Hanukkah is a symbol of re-dedication of the ruined Temple of God in Jerusalem, the recognition of this anniversary is a symbol of the restoration of the Jewish community in Macedonia. A renewed Jewish community which casts light even today and gives us hope for a better tomorrow.

I congratulate and thank you. Hag Hanukkah Sameach