"Holocaust one of greatest tragedies that befell humankind": MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Kirti Vardhan Singh said, "The Holocaust was one of the greatest tragedies that befell on humankind. There's an old saying that if we forget history, history is bound to repeat itself. We must not forget this, one of the darkest chapters in human history, and we have to learn from it and evolve our policies, our outlook towards humanity very much in the way of the Indian sense, where in our country we welcome all faiths, all cultures, all people for ages, and that is what makes our country great. That is what makes our civilization great and this is what we must remember."

He made these remarks while speaking to reporters after attending the event on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Delhi. The United Nations General Assembly has designated January 27 as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Kirti Vardhan Singh expressed hope that the release of hostages and the peace talks will pave the way for a lasting solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Regarding the recent conflict, I'm very happy to note that the progress that has been made to resolve the conflict is very much underway. The release of the hostages and the peace talks will hopefully pave the way for a lasting solution to this conflict there, and there will be peace and that region will be at peace again because it has seen so much war, so much bloodshed, so much loss of innocent lives, and now it's time to rebuild the people that live there," he said.

Speaking to ANI, German Ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, said that he attended an event where millions of Jews who were killed in the concentration camps in Germany and elsewhere were remembered. He stressed that it is very important to do the annual remembrance.

On attending event on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he said, "I want to say So I think we just lived a very moving and dignified celebration, an event where we remembered all those millions of Jews who were killed in the concentration camps in Germany and elsewhere and I think it is very important to do that annual remembrance because we should not forget what happened and we have to do our utmost to keep this memory alive and that's why we gathered here far away from Europe in India."

"I thought it was very interesting that the Minister of State gets such a clear speech, also a very, very clear point of view from the Indian side, including also a reference to the political situation in West Asia right now, I think that was very very well received and all in all, I must say I'm very happy that Israel, Germany, the diplomatic community and the Republic of India can join hands to commemorate," he added.

Ackermann said that the ties between India and Germany are at an "all-time high." German envoy said that he expects a very strong shift towards India again after elections in Germany.

On India-Germany ties, he said, "So, India-Germany relationship is at an all-time high. I would say we had last year we had really big utsav between Germany and India and I think now after elections when the new government will be formed in Germany, I expect a very, very strong shift towards India again and we'll see a lot of dignitaries coming next year, I'm sure. We will have to wait for the formation of the government, but there is a continuity in our clearly our focus on India as it is laid down in the paper, the federal cabinet has agreed upon and which was received very well also by the Prime Minister."

The snap elections for a new parliament in Germany are set to take place on February 23 as Scholz lost a confidence vote in the parliament in December. (ANI)