International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the  

Christian Peterson
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Jan. 27, has been a very important day in history for many years. For example, all the way back to 98 A.D., Trajan succeeded his adoptive father as the Roman Emperor. Under his rule the Roman Empire would reach it maximum extent. Or, for example, in 1606 the trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators began. In 1943, the Eighth Air Force sorted 91 B-17’s and B-24’s to attack the U-boat construction yards in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, which was the first American bombing attack on Germany. In 1944, the 900-day long siege of Leningrad was lifted. Only a short year later in 1945 the Soviet 322nd Rifle Division liberated the remaining inmates at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Jan. 27, continued for years to be an important day in history, however we choose the day as a day of remembrance. The International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust is celebrated on Jan, 27. In November of 2005 the United Nations General Assembly officially proclaimed the international holiday.
In between the years of 1940 to 1945, roughly 1.3 million people, mostly Jews, were forced to travel to Auschwitz by Nazi Germany. In the end, 1.1 million people were murdered in Auschwitz. By August of 1944 there were roughly 135,000 prisoners left. In January of 1945, after hearing of the Red Army’s approach on the camp, 60,000 prisoners were forced on a death march. A death march is a World War II term for massive, forced transfers of prisoners from one Nazi camp to another. At roughly 3 p.m. on Jan. 27, Red Army soldiers from the 322nd Rifle Division arrived at Auschwitz. Two hundred and thirty-one Red Army soldiers lost their life in the fighting around the area. Sadly, survivors reported that they felt no definite moment of liberation. In the end there were roughly 7,000 prisoners left behind in the camp. Most of these individuals were seriously ill, specifically due to their treatment in the camp. The makeup of those left behind were mostly middle-aged adults, or children under the age of 15. The soldiers did find 600 corpses, 370,000 men’s suits, 837,000 articles of women’s clothing and 7.7 tons of human hair. Even the battle-hardened soldiers were affronted by what they saw in the camps. Red Army general Vasily Petrenko said, “I who saw people dying every day was shocked by the Nazis’ indescribable hatred toward the inmates who had turned into living skeletons. I read about the Nazis’ treatment of Jews in various leaflets, but there was nothing about the Nazi’s treatment of women, children and old men. It was in Auschwitz that I found out about the fate of the Jews.” As soon as the army arrived they, with assistance from the Polish Red Cross, began helping survivors how they could. Red Army hospitals took care of 4,500 survivors. There were also efforts to document those in the camp and as of late June 1945 there were still 300 survivors in the camp who were too weak to be moved.
The atrocities of World War II will forever live in infamy. Even more so the horror that was revealed at the liberation of Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel a writer, professor, political activist and holocaust survivor said, “After Auschwitz, the human condition is no longer the same. After Auschwitz, nothing will ever be the same.” This was very true, once the world had its eyes opened to the monstrous actions by the Nazis, nothing was ever the same. The world was heartbroken by the knowledge of what happened, and to this day the world remains heartbroken. Therefore, on Jan. 27, we remember the more than 1.1 million people that were killed in Auschwitz. We remember the more than 6 million Jews who were murdered. We remember the horror of a state-sponsored genocide. We remember the evil things one human can do to another. We remember all this, and we mourn those who were lost.
However, through all this, hope and good survive, Jan. 27, is also a day of liberation, a day of freedom. A day that those who were being tortured saw hope in the eyes of strangers. From different countries, most likely speaking different languages, strangers saved Jews from strangers. The human evil was triumphed over by the good. Eventually, the war would end, and the good guys would win that as well. Yes, we mourn, but we must not lose hope in the good. That one-day, freedom and liberation shall come. We must not lose memory of the past, and we must learn from it. So, mourn those who we have lost to monsters, but fight and stand up in the name of good