International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia via Creative Commons

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia via Creative Commons

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is on January 27th, which commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and the day when Soviet troops liberated the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. The Holocaust occurred during World War II, according to History.com the Holocaust was “the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews (as well as members of some other persecuted groups, such as Gypsies and homosexuals) by the German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community.”  On March 17, 1942 the first mass use of gas chambers occurred at camp Belzec near Lublin. Jews were deported to camps in Europe from 1942 to 1945, “the heaviest deportations took place during the summer and fall of 1942, when more than 300,000 people were deported from the Warsaw ghetto alone.” as stated by History.com. At Auschwitz, two million people were killed and following the event of D-Day as much as 12,000 Jewish people were killed every day.

On the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Holocaust survivors and leaders speak about their experiences and why the world should not forget the event that happened in the 30’s and 40’s. The United Nations General Assembly commemorated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps on January 24th, 2005. The United Nations created an outreach program to give lessons to prevent future genocide acts, the outreach program was created on November 1st, 2005. The Commemoration includes ceremonies and activities that are held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and other United Nation offices around the world. The resolution 61/255 that was adopted on 26 January 2007 by the United Nations urges all members to reject the denial of the Holocaust.

In World History II students learn about World War II and The Holocaust and students that in Pre-AP English 10 read Night by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor. Students were asked about their thoughts on the Holocaust. Junior Eman Ayaz responds “It’s a good idea for us to  not let the hatred for other people get up to that point again. It’s crazy that they were lawfully able to almost kill off a whole race because of how ignorant everyone was.” She thinks almost killing off an entire race was wrong and those actions should never be done again.

When asked about his opinions on the Holocaust, sophomore Adeel Aziz answers, “I think it was a horrible thing and Hitler was a horrible person.” His opinions are negative towards the event, innocent people were killed for no reason and an entire race was almost killed off.

Another student junior Kenny Chou explains, “[The Holocaust was] inhuman, disgusting, displeasing, disgraceful to humanity because who is one to believe they can play God’s hand taking out the Jews, trying to create the “perfect human race.” Why would someone believe they have all the power in the world to wipe out a part of the human race? Hitler was just a horrible person who needed a new look.” 

The Holocaust was a tragic event, many innocent people were killed because of their race and identity. Learning and understanding about the Holocaust is important to prevent another genocide.