On the second day of the international Youth for Peace conference, the 1,000 participants from 15 European countries, including Ukraine, visited the Anne Frank House to remember the terrible tragedy of the Shoah and the Second World War – Big peace assembly in the centre of Amsterdam

Peace rally in Amsterdam city centre

A pilgrimage for peace in the heart of Europe to say a firm “no” to war and to those who say that peace cannot be built. On the second day of “A global friendship for a global peace”, the thousand Youth for Peace (youth movement of the Community of Sant’Egidio), coming to Amsterdam from 15 different European countries, visited the Anne Frank House and the National Monument to the Victims of the Holocaust, to remember the horror of the Shoah and to renew their commitment to oppose all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and violence.

In the afternoon, during a demonstration in the centre of Amsterdam, the appeal of Katia Sorokopud, a 25-year-old nurse from Kiev, resounded: “Don’t get tired of working for peace. Even the greatest of evils, war, can be overcome with greater love. During the bombings, I stood by my patients and, with the Community of Sant’Egidio, we continue to help the poor, because war always affects the weakest”. The young people who, in different countries, bring their help to those fleeing war replied: “The friendship with the children in the refugee camps and in our cities teaches us that we can dream of a world of peace. We can do it because we want to do it. Peace is possible and we want to build it”.

There will be many moments of meeting and debate on different themes – migration, poverty, ecology – to give voice to the hopes for peace of the young generations, to spread a culture of solidarity and integration.

The meeting will end tomorrow with a new plenary assembly with the President of Sant’Egidio Marco Impagliazzo.