“There is nothing more symbolic than holding your head high and singing the Israeli national anthem just 10 minutes from Auschwitz”
The Israeli artistic swimming team (formerly “synchronized swimming”) won a gold medal on Saturday at the European Games taking place in Poland, just “10 minutes from Auschwitz”. Israel took first place in the team routine event, while Germany won the silver medal and Turkey the bronze medal.
Israel Olympic Association President Yael Arad expressed her satisfaction with the victory. “This morning has been filled with emotion with the delegation winning their first medal at the Games,” Ms Arad told Channel 13. “There is nothing more symbolic than holding your head high and singing the ‘Israeli national anthem just 10 minutes from Auschwitz,’ she added, saying the whole team had tears in their eyes.
“We promised to perpetuate the memory of our Jewish brothers and that is what we are doing,” she said.
The Games are being held in the city of Krakow, Poland, located approximately 60 kilometers from the site of the Nazi death camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau became a symbol of the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany, in which six million European Jews perished, one million of whom were killed in this camp between 1940 and 1945, as well as more than 100,000 non-Jews .
