French president at former concentration camp : "Evil has not disappeared"

"Evil has not disappeared, it has taken on new colors,"declared French President Francois Hollande during a commemorative visit Sunday to the former concentration camp of Natzweiler-Struthof.

"The worst can always happen, it is in knowing it that we can avoid it," the president proclaimed. "We must not forget anything."

President Hollande's visit to the camp near the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (50km southwest of Strasbourg), the only one built by the Nazis on the territory of modern-day France, was part of a ceremony of commemoration for the 70th anniversary of its liberation, as well as the French National day of remembrance for victims of deportation.

Hollande was accompanied by the Prime Minister of Latvia Laimdota Straujuma, the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.

Latvia currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Together, the leaders unveiled two commemorative plaques listing the names of 86 Jewish victims who had been killed in August 1943 in order to furnish a skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg, as well as Roma victims who were killed for their ethnicity.

"I wanted that this ceremony of the plaques for the victims of this atrocity would be a European ceremony, because what happened here were horrible crimes, which occurred in Europe and were European deeds," President Hollande said.

His comments took on special significance following recent anti-Semitic acts in Europe, such as the vandalism of over 300 Jewish graves in the Alsatian village of Sarre-Union, and shootings at a synagogue in Copenhagen, both in February.

His fellow leaders took the occasion to highlight the importance of continuing to commemorate the victims of the holocaust.

"In the face of growing racism in Europe our culture of commemorating the holocaust is as important and necessary as ever. And we must do more to fight extremism and xenophobia, especially in schools and working with young people," declared Council of Europe Secretary General Jagland.

Referencing current crises in the Mediterranean and in Eastern Ukraine, as well as the fight against domestic terrorism, President Hollande argued for Europe to be worth of its own values.

"In the eyes of the world, Europe remains a land of promise," the President said.

Prior to his statements, he visited the camp's gas chamber, which had been installed in 1943 in order to perform experiments, though the camp's commemorative association indicates it was not used as systematically as in Nazi "extermination camps," such as Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor.

President Hollande is the first French head of state to have visited the camp's gas chamber.

Mainly designed as a labor camp, Natzweiler-Struthof was also used as a site for Nazi medical experiments.

Natzweiler-Struthof was the first concentration camp to have been discovered by the Allies in Western Europe. Approximately 52,000 people were imprisoned at the camp during its three years of operation. Endit