Eighty years ago today, on Jan. 27, 1945, Soviet Red Army soldiers liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, freeing 7,000 prisoners who were held there.
The date is commemorated every year as part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day in honour of the six million Jewish people who were exterminated by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Mark David is the president of the Atlantic Jewish Council. He said the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau represents the “pinnacle” of the Holocaust.
“I think that’s sort of the camp that stands out most in people’s minds,” David said.
It’s estimated that approximately one million people died or were killed at Auschwitz as part of the Third Reich’s final solution.
“Many of the people that the Nazi’s still considered to have use were actually marched in terrible death marches back further into Germany and away from the advancing red army,” David said.
In 2005, on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, David participated in a “march of the living” during Yom Hashoah V’Hagvurah – The Jewish memorial day for the Holocaust. During the event, participants marched the same three kilometre path from Auschwitz to Birkenau as a tribute to victims of the Holocaust.
“The evil there is palpable,” David said.
There are fewer Holocaust survivors alive to make the march since David did it 20 years ago, but he said it’s an important tradition despite dwindling numbers.
“Not only is today a day to remember the people that were murdered in the Holocaust but also to remember the survivors, many of whom came to Canada,” David said.
Approximately 40,000 Holocaust survivors came to Canada and resettled across the country after the war.
David said it’s important to memorialize the Holocaust but he’s also concerned with the rise of antisemitism in Canada since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killed almost 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. Since then, the UN estimates Israeli forces have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Negotiators reached a deal for a ceasefire on Jan. 15 after 15 months of war.
“So when we say ‘never again,’ which is the famous phrase that you hear in connection with the Holocaust, we mean that never again must also mean not just words but with actions,” David said.
The Atlantic Jewish Council is calling on leaders and people from across all communities to respect Canadian values of tolerance and inclusion, David said.
David said there are resources on the Atlantic Jewish Council website and regular events to help educate people about the Holocaust.
“It’s not what I would call a monolithic event,” David said. “There are so many different aspects to the Holocaust that need to be studied and understood and applied to modern times.
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