Today, 27 January 2025, is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the deadliest of the Nazi extermination camps, where more than a million people perished.
In 1945, when they opened the gates, Soviet troops found 7,000 starving, terrified prisoners.
Soldier Ivan Martynushkin said, “We saw emaciated, tortured, impoverished people. We could tell from their eyes that they were happy to be saved from this hell.”
During our travels, we met a young Dutch lady. During a conversation about politics, we mentioned the war. She said, “The war. The war. Why does everyone still go on about the war?”
We responded, “Our parents lived through and served in the war, and we were born only 20 years after it ended. It seemed very close to home.”
But 80 years on, the horror is fading from living memory.
Our parents are no longer with us, and 2025 is probably the last major anniversary where Holocaust survivors will be present, and able to pass down the lessons from history with their first-hand accounts of the atrocities which occurred in Nazi Germany.
With the rise of the right in Europe, the US, and elsewhere, with major genocides happening around the world, not least those distancing themselves from their nefarious acts because they suffered the Holocaust, it is so important that we remember.
Unfortunately, the only lesson the human race has ever learned from history is that we never learn lessons from history.
And as George Santanaya said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
When we visited Poland, I did not have the courage to visit Auschwitz, but if you would like to read about Mark’s experience there, you can find it here: Auschwitz-Birkenau – The Industrialisation of Genocide
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