Zachor

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.

Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.

Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live

as long as God Himself.

Never.

Taken from Night by Elie Wiesel

What Elie Wiesel describes here is a culture against forgetting. In Deuteronomy 4,9, God already recommends such a culture to us. »Do not forget the events you have seen with your own eyes and the words you have heard. Keep them in mind all your life. Memorise them in your children and your children's children!« With the initiative »Zachor« we want to support this culture against forgetting through stories. Anti-Semitism is growing worldwide at an alarming rate. We want to use the power of storytelling against anti-Semitism.

We call this initiative »Zachor«, (זכור), the Hebrew word that means to commemorate and remember. As Till Magnus Steiner aptly remarks, this word »makes clear that commemoration and remembering is not an end in itself, but always includes a tendency towards action, means a positioning of one's own, together with a perspective of hope.«

Here we want to draw people's attention to everything that is being done against anti-Semitism, so that we can counter this recurring scourge of humanity with all our strength. We want to

stories,

books,

CDs,

art and artists.

We would also like to encourage our friends and readers to suggest contributions of their own: books, films, events, etc.