International Holocaust Remembrance Day

There's no way to calculate the exact number of lives that were lost in the Holocaust, the ethnic cleansing of Jews and other "undesirables" by the Nazis during World War II. No single authority counted those who were murdered at concentration camps, and as the tide of the war turned against Germany, the Nazis began to destroy documents and other evidence of the slaughter.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates the death toll included 6 million Jews, 7 million Soviet civilians, 3 million Soviet prisoners of war, 1.8 million Polish civilians, and substantial groups of Serbian civilians, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Roma and Jehovah's Witnesses.

There are numerous events to commemorate the Holocaust each year. The United Nations has designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, timed to the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945. The theme for this year's event is "Memory, Dignity and Justice," meant to honor victims and prevent such atrocities from happening again. The U.N. says:

"The writing of history and the act of remembering brings dignity and justice to those whom the perpetrators of the Holocaust intended to obliterate. Safeguarding the historical record, remembering the victims, challenging the distortion of history often expressed in contemporary antisemitism, are critical aspects of claiming justice after atrocity crimes."

As each year passes, fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors remain with us. While not everyone may be comfortable discussing their experience, take any opportunity to hear from survivors first-hand. Institutions like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are another resource for hearing these accounts.

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