A special session of the European Parliament will take place on Thursday, 25 January, in Brussels to mark Remembrance Day. Following an introductory speech by President Roberta Metsola, Irene Shashar, who survived the Warsaw ghetto and the Holocaust, will address Parliament and bear witness. Following Irene Shashar’s speech, MEPs will observe a minute’s silence. The ceremony will close with a musical performance by Sheva Tehoval, soprano, and Mr Marcelo Nisinman of “Kaddish” by Maurice Ravel.
Born on 12 December 1937 as Ruth Lewkowicz, Irene Shashar is a Warsaw ghetto survivor. After her father was killed by the Nazis, she escaped the ghetto with her mother through the sewers to another part of Warsaw where she was a “hidden child” for the rest of war. She and her mother then moved to Paris. Following her mother’s death, she moved to Peru where she was adopted by relatives. After studying in the US, she moved to Israel at the age 25 and became the youngest faculty member ever to hold a post at the Hebrew University. She now lives in Modiin, Israel. In 2023, she published her biography “I won against Hitler”.