Dani Dayan spoke after meeting Pope Leo XIV, saying antisemitism is “bigotry” independent of Israeli policy.
Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, said that remembering and honoring the Holocaust is essential to combating rising antisemitism worldwide.
Dayan, who met with Pope Leo XIV on March 23 together with Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman, said their conversation focused on “two issues: the historical remembrance, the need to remember, to know about the Holocaust — but not just for the sake of history, also for the sake of the present and the sake of the future.”
We have to make sure that an “atrocity like this cannot happen again — not to the Jewish people, not to any other people,” he said.
He added that antisemitism is “raising its ugly head again all over the world” and that the two issues are closely linked.
“I think that knowing about the Holocaust, learning about the Holocaust, remembering, honoring the Holocaust is one of the tools to combat antisemitism,” Dayan said.
‘Antisemitism is bigotry’
Asked whether Israeli policy risks fueling antisemitism, Dayan rejected the premise.
“I think antisemitism should not have palliative reasons. Antisemitism is bigotry, antisemitism is racism, and it’s completely independent of anything that Israel does or does not,” he said.
He described antisemitism as a unifying force among otherwise opposed extremist groups.
“In many sectors in the world, antisemitism has become the common denominator, the lingua franca of all the extremists in the world — left-wing extremists, right-wing extremists, religious extremists, Islamist extremists, and many others,” he said.
“They hate each other on any other issue… [but] they don’t only agree, they even collaborate.”
“Antisemitism should not be understood. It should be combated without any reservation,” he added, noting he found “full agreement” with Pope Leo XIV on the point.
Memory, politics, and responsibility
Dayan emphasized the distinction between Holocaust remembrance and contemporary political debates.
“The policy and Holocaust remembrance are two completely different things,” he said, while noting that the Holocaust remains “omnipresent in the back of our minds” for many Jews and continues to shape collective identity.
He said the obligation to remember the Holocaust is “threefold”: for the future, to build a world free of bigotry and genocide; for the present, amid resurging antisemitism; and as a moral duty to the victims.
“Six million victims that were massacred by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Shoah deserve to be remembered,” he said. “It’s a debt that we have to maintain.”
A shared history and a future visit?
Reflecting on relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people, Dayan pointed to the significance of papal visits to Yad Vashem.
He presented Pope Leo XIV with a painting by Jewish artist Carol Deutsch, created during the Shoah, depicting the biblical question “Adam, where are you?”
He linked the image to Pope Francis’ address at Yad Vashem, in which the late pope asked: “Where was humanity?”
Dayan expressed hope that Pope Leo XIV would visit Yad Vashem in the future, “when circumstances allow it.”
‘Peace is an imperative’
Asked about the role of believers in promoting peace, Dayan said the memory of the Holocaust underscores the urgency of that mission.
“To yearn for it and to act for it,” he said. “Learning about the Holocaust… is one of the greatest motivations a person can have to understand that peace is an imperative.”
He acknowledged that he once believed the devastation of World War II and the Holocaust would end war and antisemitism.
“Unfortunately… I was very naive in that respect. We have to work harder, all of us, in order to make that a reality in the future,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
