6 MILLION LOST. 80 YEARS PASSED. WE MUST REMEMBER THE HOLOCAUST.

Writer Sebastian L. is our verified history expert. In this article, he explores 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and why remembering the Holocaust is crucial to preventing history from repeating itself. Covering the Nazi genocide, concentration camps, and the so-called 'Final Solution', he delves into the atrocities of the past while highlighting the importance of education and awareness for today. By examining historical events and their modern implications, he reveals why honouring Holocaust victims is essential for a just and tolerant future.  

By Sebastian L.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This is the motto by which we must speak about the Holocaust. For if we do not learn, teach, and remember it, we are doomed to see it once more.  

But what really was the Holocaust, and why is it so significant? 

The Holocaust was the Nazi genocide of the Jewish population, among others they deemed unhuman, between the years 1941 and 1945. It resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews, about two-thirds of the European Jewish population. Others targeted included Roma and Sinti, gay, black, and disabled people. All of these did not fit into the Nazi German image of the 'perfect' Europe.  

The persecution started with Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. The first concentration camp was opened in March of that year in Dachau. However, this was made to hold communists, not racial enemies. There was still persecution against the Jewish people, however, such as the Nuremberg laws, which removed Jewish citizenship. The persecution of Jewish people escalated in 1939 with the invasion of Poland. In 1939, they were sent to Ghettos, the first of which was in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland. In these ghettos, half a million died just from poor conditions and starvation. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union (reaching what is now Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltics). Behind the German frontlines, they would send in the Einsatzgruppen, who would round up Jewish people and shoot them. At Babi Yar ravine in modern-day Ukraine, 30,000 Jewish men, women, and children were murdered. By the Spring of 1942, more than 500,000 would be killed by Einsatzgruppen, with over 1,500,000 Jewish deaths at their hands by the end of the war.  

But the worst would be yet to come. On the 20th of January 1942, Nazi officials met to agree on 'the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem'. In doing so, they would agree to the genocide of Europe’s Jewish population. Just before this, the first extermination camp would open in Chełmno, Poland. Later, more would be established throughout Poland, the most infamous of which being Auschwitz-Birkenau.  

There were two styles of camps, which have been previously outlined. Concentration camps, such as Dachau, would subject Jewish people to terrible conditions, using them as slave labour with almost no food or drink. In extermination camps like Auschwitz, they would be gassed upon arrival. Around 1,000,000 people died in Auschwitz alone. A family upon arrival would have all of their belongings taken from them. Then, the children would be taken and killed. Then, the parents would either be used as slaves or be killed, depending on how fit they were to work.  

These camps would eventually be liberated, wherein survivors would be found starving and unbelievably thin. After liberation, they would have no identification, no home, and would have nowhere to go, save allied Displaced Persons camps. There would end up being 250,000 in these camps, as they were rejected access to countries such as the Mandate of Palestine and the United States (until 1947 after a UN agreement). Just before liberation, they would have been forced to walk miles across Poland and Germany to avoid incoming allied troops. Of those found at liberation, some would die, as their bodies would not be used to food, so they would die from something as simple as a cup of milk.  

Auschwitz was liberated on the 27th of January 1945. It is this date on which we mark Holocaust Memorial Day. It is important that we know of the Holocaust, that we know of the brutality, so that we may never let it happen again. For those who claim it would not happen again, please refer to the ethnic cleansings in Bosnia. Or in the Congo. Or any other of the countless regimes who believe they are the only ones who should exist. Let the Holocaust stand as a warning of what man may achieve when we build boundaries and believe that others are not our equals.  

This is why it is important to remember.  

By Sebastian L.

POTENTIAL REFERENCES

• Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27th) marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. Read more

• The Holocaust (1941-1945) led to the genocide of approximately six million Jews, about two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. Read more

• Other persecuted groups included Roma, disabled individuals, political dissidents, and homosexuals, deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime. Read more

• The Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped Jews of their citizenship and basic rights, intensifying persecution. Read more

• Ghettos were established after the invasion of Poland in 1939, confining Jews under deplorable conditions—the first ghetto was in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland. Read more

• The Einsatzgruppen (1941) conducted mass shootings in the Soviet Union, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltics, murdering over 1.5 million Jews. The Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine saw 30,000 Jewish men, women, and children murdered in two days. Read more

• The Final Solution (January 20, 1942) was formalized at the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials planned the complete annihilation of Europe’s Jews. Read more

• Extermination camps were created, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, where over 1.1 million people were murdered. Read more

• Liberation of the camps in 1945 revealed the horrific conditions survivors endured. Many faced challenges rebuilding their lives in Displaced Persons camps due to the destruction of their communities and immigration restrictions. Read more

• Holocaust remembrance is essential to prevent future genocides and educate about the dangers of unchecked hatred and prejudice. Read more