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タイ在住11年目、妻はタイ人、娘が2人、養女が2人

The Yomiuri Shimbun
70th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation a time for reflection
アウシュビッツ　解放７０年から得る教訓の重さ

Seventy years have passed since the Auschwitz concentration camp, a symbol of the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, was liberated in the final phase of World War II by the then Soviet Red Army.
　ナチス・ドイツによるユダヤ人大量殺害の象徴であるアウシュビッツ強制収容所が第２次大戦末期、旧ソ連軍に解放されてから７０年を迎えた。

A commemorative ceremony was held on Tuesday at the site of the former camp in southern Poland. Together with about 300 survivors, world leaders and state ministers of Western countries, including German President Joachim Gauck and French President Francois Hollande, attended the memorial to remember the victims.
　ポーランド南部の現地では２７日、記念式典が行われた。ガウク・ドイツ、オランド・フランス両大統領など欧米諸国の首脳・閣僚と約３００人の元収容者らが出席し、犠牲者を追悼した。

The occasion has served as a venue for the world to reiterate the lesson to “Never allow the Holocaust to happen again,” on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
　戦後７０年に「ホロコースト（大虐殺）を繰り返すな」という教訓を改めて確認する場となった。

Adopting an ideology of anti-Semitism, the Nazis embarked on the genocide of the Jewish people during the war. About 6 million Jews are believed to have been murdered by the regime. With its gas chamber, the concentration camp in Auschwitz can be described as a “killing factory” where 1.1 million prisoners, mostly Jews, died.
　ナチスは、ユダヤ人に対する差別政策を取り、大戦中、組織的な抹殺に乗り出した。殺害されたユダヤ人は約６００万人とされる。アウシュビッツは、ガス室による「殺人工場」と言え、ユダヤ人ら１１０万人が亡くなった。

The brutal act was a war crime without precedent and beyond description.
　従来の戦争犯罪の域を超えた、言語を絶する残虐行為である。

During his speech at the German parliament, Gauck said, “Remembering the Holocaust remains a matter for every citizen of Germany.”
　ガウク氏は独連邦議会演説で、「ホロコーストに思いをはせることは、全ドイツ国民にとって重要であり続ける」と強調した。

West Germany and then the unified Germany, on the basis of their deep soul-searching over the atrocities committed by the Nazis, made efforts to build respect for human rights and establish democracy, allowing the nation to regain solid ground within the international community.
　西独、統一ドイツは、ナチスの蛮行への深い反省に基づき、人権尊重や民主主義の確立に努め、国際的地位を築いた。

Gauck’s remarks can be interpreted as a call for the German people to firmly maintain this basic stance.
ガウク氏の言葉は、この基本姿勢を今後も堅持しようという呼びかけだろう。

Reflecting on conflict today

There is still racial and religious conflict in the world today, and terrorist acts by radical groups are a frequent occurrence. It is quite regrettable that such incidents cast a shadow over the ceremony.
　世界では今なお、民族、宗教に根ざす紛争や過激派のテロが頻発している。今回の記念式典にも影を落としたのは残念だ。

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia — which is at loggerheads with the West over the Ukraine crisis — did not attend the ceremony as he was not invited.
　ウクライナ紛争を巡って米欧と対立するロシアのプーチン大統領は、招待されなかったことを理由に、式典を欠席した。

During his visit to the Middle East, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a speech at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Jan. 19. He vowed, “We declare our determination to never again allow such a tragedy to be repeated.” He also made clear Japan’s commitment to making active contributions to the peace and stability of the world.
　安倍首相は中東歴訪中の１９日、イスラエルのホロコースト記念館で演説した。「このような悲劇を二度と繰り返させない」との決意を表明し、「世界の平和と安定に貢献していく」と語った。

During his speech, Abe also noted the great deeds of Chiune Sugihara, then Japan’s vice consul in Lithuania, who issued at his own discretion transit visas to Japan for about 6,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II.
　ナチスの迫害から逃れたユダヤ人約６０００人に独断で日本通過ビザを発給し、命を救った外交官、杉原千畝の功績にも言及した。

Some media skeptics in the West have regarded Abe as a historical revisionist. In its repeated criticisms of Japan, China has compared the Nanjing Incident by the former Imperial Japanese Army to the Holocaust and viewed wartime Japan as being similar to Nazi Germany.
　一部の欧米メディアは、安倍首相を「歴史修正主義者」と問題視する。中国は、ホロコーストと旧日本軍の南京事件を同列に扱い、ナチスとイメージをだぶらせて日本批判を繰り返す。

With his speech, Abe may also have intended to dispel misunderstanding on the part of Western countries and to counter China’s anti-Japan propaganda war by showing Japan’s stance of confronting history and recognizing the importance of lessons learned.
　首相の演説には、歴史に正面から向き合い、その教訓を重視する姿勢を示すことで、欧米の誤解を正し、中国の宣伝戦に対抗する狙いもあったのだろう。

It is vital for Japan to convey to foreign countries its soul-searching over its past, its course in the postwar era as a peaceful nation and its clear message that it will strive to cooperate with the international community in the future.
　日本は、過去への反省、戦後の平和国家としての歩み、そして将来にわたり、国際社会と協調するという明確なメッセージを海外に発信していくことが大切だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 29, 2015)