By Rony Junior El Daccache

Holocaust detention camps on the island are an inseparable part of the histories of both Cyprus and Israel, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday at a ceremony to mark their closure 75 years ago.

“This year’s anniversary is particularly important as it’s taken place after the terrorist attacks of October 7th which we condemn,” Christodoulides added.

“This event honours the Jewish community’s human spirit and dignity as well as an opportunity for Cyprus to show compassion and solidarity”.

The memorial ceremony was held at the former British Military Hospital where one of 12 camps were located from 1946-1949 after World War II, operating as havens for more than 53,000 Jews passing through Cyprus during the Holocaust.

Cypriots who worked in the military camps and lived in the surrounding villages aided Jewish refugees, Christodoulides said, by smuggling food, providing shelter and food and even arranging escapes.

“We as a country have to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is preserved to act as a guide for the future, ” Defence Minister Vassilis Palmas said, speaking on behalf of head of the National Guard lieutenant general George Tsitsikostas.

“We must stand resolutely against violence, anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, social inequality, intolerance and discrimination,” he added.

Before the camps shut in February 1949, more than 2,200 Jewish children were born in Cyprus, “creating an eternal and unbreakable bond between our two countries,” Palmas said.

He then went on to honor two attendees who were born in Cyprus during this time, Zehavit Blumenfeld and Professor Snunith Shoham.

“Today we honour the resilience of the human spirit. This place is not just a piece of land of demolished soulless buildings. This place and the detention camps in other areas of Cyprus are monuments of the human spirit, monuments of hope,” Shoham said.

Israeli ambassador Oren Anolik emphasised that Cyprus and Israel honour their common pasts and find solidarity with their common futures.