Young people should use education as shield against extremism: Maltese President

Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca on Wednesday called on young people to use education and knowledge as a shield against extremism.

Addressing an event to commemorate international holocaust remembrance day at the Verdala Palace, Preca said: "It is your [young people's] task to continue this great duty, to remember, to be watchful, to ensure that there will never be, in Europe or anywhere else in the world, another Auschwitz."

She said holocaust memorial day is more important and relevant than ever as it "enables us to rally together, recognize the workings of wickedness, to exercise vigilance, and remind us of the need to replace strategies of exclusion with processes of peace."

The Auschwitz concentration camp was established by the Nazis in 1940 following the Nazi attack on Poland in 1939. By 1942, Auschwitz had become the biggest place in Europe dedicated to the mass extermination of European Jews. According to some estimates, 1.1 million people lost their lives at the camp including Jews, Polish, Roma, and Russians, among others.

The concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet Army on Jan. 27, 1945, a day which became international holocaust remembrance day. Endit