PRIME MINISTER RAFFARIN AT IZIEU COMMEMORATION: "BARBARITY FEEDS ITSELF ON IGNORANCE"

"We thought anti-Semitism was uprooted," said the Prime Minister, "But in the past years, anti-Semitic actions and expressions resurfaced. Anti-Semitism is a distortion of the human mind; it is an insult to the values of our Republic. This is why for the past three years my government took several measures to fight against the reappearance of this Hydra."

"Beyond the indispensable punishment of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic attacks and the securitization of the premises of the Jewish community, the pedagogic work must be privileged. In our societies, transmission of our memory is a major stake."

"(…) Barbarity feeds itself on ignorance"

"(…) To pay homage to the memory of (the Jewish children) who lived in Izieu, who suffered and died in the concentration camps is to pay homage to the memory of a living society. (…) President Chirac invited us all to teach our children that 'the history of the French nation is marked out with combats that highlighted tolerance and protection of the weaker ones as the first of our principles.'

"May the memory of the children of Izieu be a source of inspiration in our daily work so that the values of the Republic are kept alive," concluded Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Before the Izieu commemoration Prime Minister Raffarin met a group of 15-year old pupils and told them, "There is no major and minor racism. The outcome of racism is monstrosity."