Mourning for Marek Edelman, resistance fighter of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) mourns the death of the Jewish resistance fighter of the Warsaw Ghetto, the civil and human rights worker, the co-founder of "Solidarnosc”, Marek Edelman.

Although marked by the murder of three million of his fellow-countrymen in Poland, he used his energy to help other persecuted minorities, especially the Polish Roma, the Kosovo refugees and the victims of the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the STP chair, Tilman Zülch, on Sunday afternoon in Göttingen.

On 14th November 1993 Marek Edelman spoke at the memorial service of the STP in Buchenwald in front of 3,000 Bosnians and their German friends. This speech will not be forgotten: "Europe has learnt nothing since the Holocaust. Nothing was done to stop the murdering. What happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a posthumous victory for Hitler”. If at that time Europe’s leading politicians and governments had followed the call of Edelman tens of thousands of Bosnians would not have had to die, said Zülch.

Marek Edelman honoured the only international genocide congress on Bosnia (30th August – 2nd September 1995) in Bonn with his presence. 150 participants from four continents, among them being many eye-witnesses, reported on the crimes of genocide. In his speech Edelman mentioned our human rights organisation, which had issued the invitations to this congress: "I consider the Society for Threatened Peoples to be very important. At the end of the 20th century, when thousands of people are threatened by nationalism and chauvinism, when death and hunger destroy thousands, the activities of the Society for Threatened Peoples force public opinion to take action and to fight injustice. For this reason I believe that everyone has the duty to support its activities.”

If you have questions, please approach Tilman Zülch at politik@gfbv.de or the chair of the Bosnian section of the STP, Fadila Memisevic, at info@gfbv.ba