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Speech of J.F. GUTHMANN, President of OSE-France, on November 12, 2000 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington at the ceremony “Homage to OSE as Rescuer of Jewish Children”
Mrs. Kenigsberg,
Mr. Ambassador,
It is indeed a great honor for me to receive, in the name of OSE, this token of appreciation. I am especially grateful for this award as it is the first time, to my knowledge, that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has honored collectively Jewish acts of rescue.
Thus, my first thought is to identify this great honor with the names of all those heroes who labored to deserve this homage, during the war and the immediate post-war period.
These are unforgettable names:
Dr. Joseph WEILL
Georges GAREL
Andrée SALOMOM
Eugène MINKOWSKI
Germaine MASOUR
Lazar GURVIC
Moussa ABADI
Denise VORMUS
But the list is long, and one risks (as Ruth Keller pointed out last night) leaving out some names. Instead, I prefer to make you a promise: We will prepare and publish in French and English – hopefully with the help of those of you in the USA – a memorial book to pay homage to all those whose actions contributed to this part of the history of the OSE, at the risk of their own lives.
Today, as in the past, the work of the OSE is to bring smiles and confidence into the lives of children in distress, as you had once been. Of course, we are dealing with other forms of violence, other dangers, other struggles: marital violence, sickness, drugs, sexual perversion, etc.
I know that this will be the challenge awaiting generations to come: the second, the third, the fourth generations must gather their strength to follow the example that you have set. And the most wonderful homage would be if, sixty years from now, the children that the OSE cares for today will in turn gather to find each other again, as you are doing here, to exchange their memories of the past.
Let the smiles of Rachel, Judith, Gaby, Margot, Georges, and of all those who saved you inspire us for years to come!
Jean-François Guthmann