Holocaust Remembrance Day
- Shani Levy-Richards
- Jan 31
- 5 min read
January 27th was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was one of the most horrific camps during the Holocaust, located in Poland. Auschwitz-Birkenau had over 40 sub-camps which included forced-labor camps, concentration camps, and extermination camps. In the five years of its existence, over one million Jews from were murdered at Auschwitz, along with thousands of prisoners of war and other minorities. Masses of Jews were taken to Auschwitz via train daily where they would be victims of slavery, gruesome punishments, medical experiments, execution, among countless other cruelties. The overwhelming majority of Jews who arrived in Auschwitz would die there.
Those who survived the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions of the train to Auschwitz-Birkenau were separated by gender and age upon arrival. Nazi commanders would pick those who they deemed physically weaker than others and separated them, sending them to the gas chambers to die. Those who remained alive had their heads shaved, given numbered tattoos, then publicly stripped and dressed in striped uniforms. Prisoners were assigned to specific camps and barracks, and all of the belongings were taken from them upon arrival. The SS guards took every possible measure to dehumanize their prisoners and break their spirit.
Overwork, starvation, dehydration, and sickness killed prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau on a daily basis. SS guards beat and tortured anybody who collapsed during labor, those who lagged during their strict daily schedules, or whoever was unfortunate to get their attention on any given day. Pregnant women were killed immediately, along with anybody who was deemed unfit to work at the camps.
The Nazi’s knew that if knowledge of what they were doing at these camps was publicized, there would be international outrage. The only public knowledge of these camps came from spies or prisoners that had escaped, and the magnitude of the evil of the Nazis was not widely known until these camps were liberated and survivors were freed.
During the summer of 1944, the Soviet Red Army and Allied powers achieved multiple military accomplishments, which would change the course of World War II. As Soviet soldiers came closer to camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, concentration camp commanders were ordered to evacuate their prisoners. The Nazis were frightened of their prisoners falling into enemy hands and revealing the atrocities that had been committed against them. They also hoped that their prisoners could be used as hostages to exchange for terms that would leave them in power. Adolf Hitler ordered the evacuations of all camps in January of 1945, and commanded that no prisoner be left alive in Allied Forces hands. Multiple crematories, storage spaces, and gas chambers were destroyed in an attempt by the Nazis to conceal their crimes, but they did not have enough time to destroy everything, or murder everybody left behind.
The forced evacuations from concentration camps were called the Death Marches, because anybody who was unable to keep marching would be killed on the spot, their bodies leaving behind a trail of the marches. Tens of thousands were murdered during the marches. Those at Auschwitz who were too weak or sick to evacuate were left behind.
On January 27, 1945 the Red Army soldiers of 322 rifle division arrived in Auschwitz as they advanced through Nazi-occupied Poland. After a battle nearby in the local towns, the soldiers were able to enter Auschwitz and liberate it.
Soviet soldiers were shocked by what they saw at Auschwitz. General Vassily Petrenko was a Red Army general, commander of the 107th Infantry Division during World War II stated:
“I who saw people dying every day was shocked by the Nazi’s indescribable hatred toward the inmates who had turned into living skeletons. I read about the Nazis’ treatment of Jews in various leaflets, but there was nothing about the Nazi’s treatment of women, children, and old men. It was at Auschwitz that I found out about the fate of the Jews.”
Auschwitz-Birkenau had been the place of the death for over 1 million Jews and over 100,000 other victims deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime. Less than 7,000 people were found alive when the Red Army arrived to liberate it.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is an important day to remember and honor the victims of the single largest genocide in history. It is considered a miracle by many that there were any survivors at all of the Holocaust, and survivors of these terrible atrocities should be listened to and valued as incredibly important witnesses to one of history’s darkest chapters. A few activities that can be done on this day to honor the victims of the Holocaust include visiting museums, reading books, watching documentaries, sharing survivor testimonies, attending remembrance ceremonies, promoting tolerance and education, or even something as simple as lighting a candle of remembrance.
Especially for the Jewish community, Holocaust Remembrance Day can be very emotional and traumatic. Many in our community know victims of the Holocaust, or descend from them. I urge everybody to honor this day in methods they deem best fit for their personal mental health.
While it can be difficult to discuss and learn about the terrible atrocities committed during the Holocaust, the current state of the world has proven that education regarding the treatment of Jews and other minorities during the Holocaust is not only important, but essential.
Educators must ensure that the Holocaust is properly taught in schools before we raise generations that can easily be doomed to repeat the past. The Institute for Historical Review (IHR) is a Holocaust denial movement created in 1978 by Willis Carto and David McCalden. In 2009, the IHR decided to switch focus from Holocaust denial (due to what they claimed was an ‘outdated’ topic) to opposing ‘Jewish-Zionist Power’. The IHR is based out of California and continues to fuel antisemitic tropes to this day. While those reading this article will be incredibly unlikely to deny the existence of the Holocaust in history, it is highly likely that you have encountered people in your day to day life who are Holocaust deniers.
The spread of antisemitic tropes and Holocaust denial has only grown in the past two decades, as the internet and social media becomes the primary platform for historical and political debate. Antisemitic groups (like the IHR, KKK, the National Front, Hamas, etc.) have found countless opportunities to spread antisemitism through social media. It is common for these groups to influence politics and education through donations and financial support via front groups, individual benefactors, or disguised funds, in hopes of promoting ideological objectives - and if they can reach governments and universities, they can reach the phone or computer screens of almost anybody on earth.
According to a poll conducted by The Economist in December of 2023, 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 18-29 believe the Holocaust is was a myth. Following the October 2023 Hamas terror attacks against civilians in Israel, an ADL survey conducted this month found that nearly half of the world’s adult population hold antisemitic beliefs (46%). This global antisemitic attitude is close to that of Nazi Germany and Eastern Europe prior to the Holocaust, which is estimated by historians to have been around 40-60% of the population.
As the world embraces the digital age, social media is a tool that can easily be used to gain power and spread hate. The fact that Holocaust denial is so rampant in modern day while there are still Holocaust survivors alive is a deeply concerning trend, and in order to promise a better future it must be a worldwide priority to prevent hate and misinformation campaigns from gaining popularity and power online and elsewhere. History has proven time and time again that when those full of hate gain power, tragedy follows.
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