The fresco of the Metropolitan Cathedral in honor of the victims of the Shoah and the attacks of the Embassy and AMIA

This Wednesday, March 17 marks the 27th anniversary of the attack of the Israeli Embbady in Buenos Aires in 1992. Five years after the tragic event, in April 1997, a unique initiative of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, performed by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Antonio Quarracino, became alive.

It is one of a kind mural mural located inside the Metropolitan Cathedral, dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and attacks against the Embbady of Israel and the Mutual Association Israelite Argentina (AMIA), occurred during that same decade, leaving a dramatic balance of deaths and injuries.

This symbol of brotherhood between Catholics and Jews, unique in the world, is based on an idea of ​​Baruch Tenembaum, founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, an NGO that disseminates the heroic heritage of the saviors of the victims of the Shoah, among which: The diplomat Swedish Raoul Wallenberg stands out for his importance and his tragic personal story.

In just eight months of activity, Wallenberg has saved thousands of lives in Hungary occupied by Nazism. On January 17, 1945, he was arrested by the Soviet Army and has since disappeared. We do not know anything about his whereabouts.

Antonio Quarracino, Israel, received the Jerusalem Ecumenical Award for his interfaith work.

Antonio Quarracino was born in 1923 in Pollica, a small town in southern Italy, and emigrated to Argentina at the age of four.

In 1962, Pope John XXIII named him bishop of Nueve de Julio. In 1985, Pope John Paul II promoted him to the archdiocese of La Plata, then to that of Buenos Aires, making him the primate of Argentina.

1997: Inauguration of the mural. Antonio Quarracino with Lech Walesa

The spirit of brotherhood that Bishop Quarracino felt for the Jews manifested palpably in the mural, emblem of unprecedented interference. The inauguration of the mural, which took place on April 19, 1997, coinciding with the 54th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, brought together dignitaries, political and religious leaders from various countries, including Lech Walesa, who received the award The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who, two years earlier, had completed his term as President of Poland, is now confronted with Judaism for the narrative he is attempting to make. impose on the role played by the Poles during the Holocaust.

The mural consists of a structure 1.80 m long and 1.20 m wide, composed of two crystals between which are displayed sheets of prayer books found in Auschwitz, Treblinka and the Warsaw Ghetto. You can also see a Kaddish score (the Jewish prayer for the dead) and the covers of two books: one of the fables, in Yiddish, found in the rubble of the AMIA and another, taken from the Samuel's book, found in the ruins of the Israeli Embbady in Buenos Aires. The play is completed by a copy of Pbadover Hagada, saved from a concentration camp in 1942, donated by Miriam Kesler, daughter of one of the victims.

On an inner plaque, we read: "In memory of our Jewish brothers mbadacred and sacrificed during the Holocaust (Holocaust) and the martyrs of the attacks of the Israeli Embbady in Buenos Aires and the Israelite Mutual Association. Argentine (AMIA) Archbishop of Buenos Aires, primate of Argentina, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, imposed on April 14, 1997 in Buenos Aires, Argentina ".

An inscription written by Zvi Kolitz in his work is transcribed on the outer plate. Yosel Rácover speaks to God"I believe in the sun even when it does not shine, I believe in love even when I do not feel it, I believe in God even when he remains silent."

Initially installed in the chapel of Santa Teresa, later, at the express request of Bishop Quarracino, the mural was moved to the chapel of the Virgin of Luján. In one of his last letters, Quarracino wrote to Tenembaum: "It will soon be the first anniversary of the discovery of this worthy monument to which I asked to invite the Jews who wish to cover their heads." "The definitive place of the mural will be linked to the rest that I'm waiting inside the cathedral to continue to proclaim the fraternity as I have done it all my life."

Throughout its history, the fresco has been visited by Argentine and international personalities, including President Raúl Alfonsín, President Barack Obama, Cardinals John O. Connor and Angelo Sodano, Archbishop of New York and Secretary of # 39; State. of the Vatican, respectively; Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa and French intellectual Guy Sorman, among others; Besides students from many schools, among the more than three thousand people who visit every day the main Catholic temple of Argentina.

After the death of Quarracino, his successor, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, continued the task of preserving and distributing the mural, at the express request of his mentor and predecessor.

In September 2004, the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation placed a replica of the mural in the Protestant Evangelical Church Vaterunser Berlin.

In a joint statement, Eduardo Eurnekian, president of the Wallenberg Foundation, and Baruch Tenembaum stressed "the transcendence of this monument, symbol of the brotherhood that unites Jews and Catholics". He added: "The Wallenberg Foundation invites all members of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires and all over the country to visit the fresco." According to the wish of Cardinal Quarracino, those who wish can do so with an unusual gesture, the Kippa by visiting a church. "The leaders of the NGO concluded:" In these turbulent times, while anti-Semitism and other forms of racism are developing, we must recognize the value of this painting mural, as an emblem of peace and fraternity ".