Today I’d like to talk about genocide.

What was the Holocaust?

The Holocaust (The Shoah in Hebrew) was the attempt by the Nazis and their collaborators to murder all the Jews in Europe. From the time they assumed power in Germany in run-up to the 1939-1945 Second World War, the Nazis used propaganda, persecution, and legislation to deny human and civil rights to German Jews. They used centuries of antisemitism (anti-Jewish hatred) as their foundation. By the end of the Second World War, 6 million Jewish men, women and children had been murdered in ghettos, mass-shootings, in concentration (work) camps and extermination camps.

What happened in Auschwitz?

Auschwitz-Birkenau in Nazi-occupied Poland was the largest of the concentration & extermination camps. There alone, 1.1 million people - mostly but not all Jewish - were killed. Until 80 years ago today, 27th January 1945: it was liberated by the Society Army, which was in an alliance with Britain and America to defeat Germany.

What is Holocaust Memorial Day?

And so 27th January was chosen as Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). And today, 27th January 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. But why remember World War II, and specifically the Holocaust? Isn’t it better to move on and think about happier things? Watch this video…

…let the wise listen and add to their learning,
    and let the discerning get guidance…
Proverbs 1:5