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Learning from the Past and Protecting the Future on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Holocaust Remembrance Day graphic

Designated by the United Nations on January 27 (the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau), International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is a day of commemoration, observance, and mourning.

Each year on this date, it is important that all of us observe and share the day – both to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazism, as well as to educate and remind all of its occurrence as a cautionary lesson to help end the genocides still occurring today while working to prevent future ones.

As hateful, racist, and divisive rhetoric and ideologies have risen in volume over the past several years, it is more important than ever to provide Holocaust education to emphasize the truth of the horrors of the Holocaust while combating the false deniers and conspiracy myths that have proliferated across social media.

This day – January 27, 2025 – marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz by Allied troops, and the lessons and tragedies of what those troops discovered there and at the other concentration camps they discovered and liberated must be remembered and amplified. The only antidote to hate, silence, denial and misinformation is education, observance, awareness, and speech. Eighty years later, we can achieve this by acknowledging the trauma that remains, by promoting and implementing educational observance and remembrance, by sharing the stories of survivors, by caring for historic sites, and by promoting education, documentation, facts, and research.

Let us all learn from the past and protect the future. As genocide, hate crimes, and atrocities continue to occur across the world – as we combat the global rise of racism, antisemitism and hate speech, the lessons of the Holocaust have never been more urgent.

Honor the significance of this day by listening to or sharing stories of Holocaust survivors, by visiting a local Holocaust museum or memorial, by lighting a candle in remembrance, and by simply sharing information and awareness of Holocaust Day on social media.

Learn more at:

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

https://www.ushmm.org/remember/international-holocaust-remembrance-day

Holocaust Survival Stories (World Jewish Congress):

https://aboutholocaust.org/en/testimonies

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