Lest We Forget

It started with anti-Semitism and Kristallnacht.

It ended with millions of lives erased.

Human_Wreckage_at_Belsen_Concentration_Camp,_1945_
Eric W. Taylor – 1945 – Human Wreckage at Belsen Concentration Camp

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 27 is designated by the United Nations General Assembly as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since 2005, the UN and its member states have been paying tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated six million Jewish and millions of other victims of the Nazi regime and its collaborators: Slavs, Poles, Romani people, Serb civilians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, mentally and physically disabled people, and “asocials” (including political dissidents and homosexual men).
Besides honouring the victims of the Nazi regime. its purpose is to promote Holocaust education throughout the world, reaffirming the need to oppose antisemitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance and violence.

The 2019 commemorative theme is “Holocaust Remembrance: Demand and Defend Your Human Rights”, to encourage people to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust, act against discrimination and defend democratic values in their communities, at a time when the spread of Neo-Nazism and hate groups fuels various forms of hatred around the world.

18 thoughts on “Lest We Forget”

  1. I appreciate your mentioning of roughly 5 million of non-Jewish victims, which are not mentioned enough. All in all 11 million victims of the regime. I read that in Asia there is not enough education on the matter, so they do know next to nothing about the Nazi regime and they even celebrate it. Sometimes it seems the same goes for the Europeans. Terrible.

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  3. Denial of the holocaust is amongst the most insane aspects of humanity. Whilst we have pressing matters of our own to consider in this current era, we should never forget or deny these horrific and well devastating events from our past. We need to see the dangers of allowing our petty insecurities and ignorant beliefs to fester and grow as they can bring out the worst in man. Tolerance and understanding must be the mantra of man if we are to evolve and survive.

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  4. When we visited Dachau, I was surprised to see some many deaths recorded from the populations of Northern Italy, especially scholars, priests, journalists, Jews and everyone else on the Third Reich’s list. My wife’s entire ancestry was wiped out at Auschwitz so we indeed never forget this day. 😢

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