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Tag: #Never Again

January 27th: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Posted by ellen sue spicer on

NOTE: On Sunday evening, after I had already posted this to appear earlier in the day I watched an excellent documentary entitled The Story of Eva, about Eva Mozes Kor. She and her twin sister Miriam were in Auschwitz as part of Mengele’s Nazi scheme to experiment on twins to help them in their search for the perfect Aryan. Worth watching! (www.thestoryofeva.com)

Coming on Monday, January 27, 2020…

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides.

Source: US Holocaust Memorial Museum

From Prof. Arthur Shostak, author of Stealth Altruism, where he writes about individuals helping others survive in the concentration camps. He focuses on the little talked about altruism as opposed to the much talked about horrors of The Holocaust. (Some of the info is repeated from lines above. Words in bold are my emphases.)
…….Monday, January 27, will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation by the Red Army of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration/Death Camp located by the Nazis in Poland. It was the largest such camp (1.3 million prisoners passed through)) and on its liberation a Ukrainian branch of the Red Army found only about 7,000 survivors, among whom were about 400 youngsters. (Thousands of others had earlier been moved out on a Death March, one of whom was Elie Wiesel).
As many as one million prisoners, most of whom were Jewish  – and also Catholic clergy, Gays, political prisoners, Protestant clergy, Romani, Poles, Russian POWs, etc., were murdered in Gas Chambers or worked to death.
Prisoner Elie Wiesel has written – “All roads lead us back there. Defying all analogies, Auschwitz institutes itself as a point of reference. Because Auschwitz symbolizes the culmination of violence, hatred, and death, it is our duty to fight violence, hatred, and death ….” (Night, p. 4)…
The attached article sheds valuable light on a new exhibit: “I was convinced,” says Caryl Englander, who is from a religious background herself, “that there was an as-yet-untold Holocaust narrative here—the tale of those who against all odds maintained the wonder and joy of their religious beliefs.”
Arthur B. Shostak, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Sociology
Drexel University

On this day, I will be joining Cherie Goren when she is the guest at Golden Slipper Seniors to talk about her book,  A Time to Keep, which I edited last year. Here is the cover:

 

Cherie emphasizes her idyllic life before the Holocaust in her talk, which accompanies her nephew’s wonderful documentary based on her story: “Leaving Lithuania: Refugees from the Reich,” which is available online. She emphasizes that her book is actually a “coming to America book, “not a Holocaust book. It is available from Amazon for $14, soft cover, or as a Kindle for $7.00.

P.S. Please take a few minutes from your busy day to honor those who were murdered or tortured or starved to death because of their political or religious beliefs. Thank you.
P.P.S. Cherie’s program was well received and well attended! Helping her with the program was a great way to honor this day!

 

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