In a powerful address to the German Bundestag during the annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony, 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Roman Schwarzman drew stark parallels between his experiences during World War II and Russia’s current aggression against Ukraine, delivering a plea for continued support of his homeland.
“Back then, Hitler wanted to kill me because I am Jewish. Now Putin is trying to kill me because I am Ukrainian,” Schwarzman declared in one of the most poignant moments of his speech, highlighting the tragic symmetry of his life experiences.
The survivor of the Berschad ghetto, who now serves as the chairman of the Ukrainian Association for Jewish Concentration Camp and Ghetto Survivors, shared his recent firsthand experience of Russian attacks. On 29 December 2023, his apartment in Odesa was destroyed by a Russian missile. “Miraculously, my wife and I were able to escape because we fled to the basement. When we returned to the 10th floor, we did not recognize the apartment. Everything was shattered,” he recounted.
The speech received multiple rounds of sustained applause from the assembled parliamentarians, underscoring the impact of Schwarzman’s testimony linking historical atrocities to contemporary aggression against Ukraine.
“I have seen the devil”
Drawing from his experiences in the ghetto, Schwarzman offered a powerful message of resistance:
“I saw the devil. And I say, we are overestimating him. His power is not greater than the power we ascribe to him.”
The Holocaust survivor warned that Russia’s ambitions extend beyond Ukraine. “Anyone who believes that Russia will be satisfied with Ukraine is mistaken,” he cautioned the German parliament. He emphasized that “there can be no peace without freedom and justice.”
Schwarzman made an appeal for increased military support, outlining specific needs: “Ukraine needs air defense, Odesa needs air defense to protect people and ports. We need aircraft to gain air superiority, we need more long-range missiles to cripple the Russian airfields and missile depots from which we are attacked daily.”
“The world must stop being afraid,” he declared, assuring that “Ukraine is doing everything to keep the war from coming to you.”
War of extermination
Schwarzman drew direct parallels between the Nazi regime’s attempted extermination of the Jewish people and current Russian aggression:
“Putin is trying to destroy us as a nation, just as Hitler tried to destroy the Jewish people in World War II.”
The survivor spoke of the psychological impact of witnessing the aftermath of Russian occupation: “I see the faces of the Ukrainian defenders returning from Russian captivity. Their stories of torture by the Russian occupiers cause phantom pains in me.”
Schwarzman reflected on the cyclical nature of his life’s struggles: “I have already escaped extermination once. Now I am an old man and I have to live with the fear that my children and grandchildren will become victims of a war of extermination.”
Schwarzman painted a grim picture of his beloved hometown Odesa, which he says “is currently suffering greatly from Russian terror.” The ongoing attacks have even interrupted the construction of a memorial dedicated to 25,000 Jews who were burned alive by Nazi forces in October 1941 – a project supported by German partners that Schwarzman has championed for years.
A plea for action
Concluding his address, Schwarzman made an impassioned plea to the German parliament: “Today, we must once again do everything in our power to put an end to barbarism. This is the only way to achieve peace and mutual understanding.”
He begged the assembled legislators “to arm us so that Putin will end this war of extermination.”
His final words, delivered in Yiddish, connected the historical memory of the Holocaust to the current struggle: “The memory of the victims of Nazism must be a guiding light for us, and commit us to building a future in which humanity and justice are not empty words.”
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