Editorial | Horrors of Auschwitz must not be forgotten
- The 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp in which so many Jews and other minorities perished comes at a time when extremist views are again on the rise
Anniversaries and collective memory are not enough to prevent the worst crimes of humanity. The 75th commemoration of the liberation by Soviet troops of Auschwitz, the symbol of the genocide of 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, was attended by about 200 survivors, relatives and heads of state and politicians.
But the lessons taught and the passing of time have not rid the world of the hatred behind such evil, with a surge in recent years of crimes against Jews, Muslims, gays and other minorities.
Combating the far-right and left-wing extremism behind the scourge, often spread through the internet and social media, will require more than just education and events attended by the elite.
About 90 per cent of the 1.1 million people who perished at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945 were Jews. They arrived at the gates of the camp in Poland in cattle trucks and were either sent directly to gas chambers or forced to do tough manual labour. Many also died of hunger and only about 200,000 survived.
The horrors committed by Hitler’s regime shocked the world, prompting pledges they would never be repeated and January 27 was chosen by the United Nations to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
