SVDP-ALC Studies WW2: International Holocaust Remembrance Day -- January 27

(The photo is of the Nuremberg Trials after World War ll. Seated are some of the most notorious leaders of Hitler's Third Reich including, in the front row, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess. Standing behind the Nazi defendants, guarding them, are US Army military police. At the trials, the horrible truth of the Nazi mass murders was revealed for the world to see. The photo is from Wikipedia Commons and in public domain.)

In our continued study of World War 2 here at SVDP-ALC (and recently our school went on a field trip to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans), we take note of the significance of January 27. This day is recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day which coincides with the day the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by Russian troops. Auschwitz was the largest and most deadly of all the Nazi concentration camps.

Below is a quote from the website for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/ihrd/comment_post.php

"In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as an annual international day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era. This date marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Every member nation of the U.N. has an obligation to honor the memory of Holocaust victims and develop educational programs as part of the resolve to help prevent future acts of genocide. The U.N. resolution rejects denial of the Holocaust, and condemns discrimination and violence based on religion or ethnicity."

For much more information about the Holocaust (or Shoah as it is also called), see the website for the USHMM at http://www.ushmm.org/ The museum is a co-operative work between the US government and private organizations.

In the Holocaust approximately 6 million Jews and 5 million persons other than Jews were murdered by the Nazis. After the war many of the Nazi leaders were put on trial for crimes against humanity at Nuremberg in Germany by the Allied powers. However, some of the leading Nazis escaped justice by committing suicide.

-- Adrian