Remembering the Holocaust - Yes, it DID Happen

In 2005, the United Nations designated January 27 as an annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Why January 27? It was on this day in 1945 that the largest World War II concentration camp, Auschwitz, was liberated.

Auschwitz, a network of three camps, was operated in Poland under German occupation from 1940-1945. Other well-known “death camps” were Dachau, Treblinka, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen.

Claims that the Holocaust Didn’t Happen
Currently, there are claims being made that the Holocaust never happened. These claims are frightening and outrageous to Jewish people, and could not be farther from the truth.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington D.C. houses over 85,000 photos of Holocaust photographs, twenty percent of which can be viewed online. There are traveling exhibits and several stationary USHMM branches around the U.S.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem houses over 62 million pages of documents, photos, testimonies of survivors and other articles as proof of the Holocaust.

How/Why did the Holocaust happen?
Adolph Hitler intended to create the perfect Aryan race, eliminating those people who didn’t fit his description of “perfect.” Beside the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, more than two million other people lost their lives for either assisting the Jewish people or being imperfect themselves.

Beyond his takeover of Germany, Hitler wanted to rule at least all of Europe, and perhaps the world. See a detailed history here at USHMM.

Do Christians hate the Jewish People?
NO! Because some churches and Christian organizations either looked the other way or went along with Hitler’s bidding due to their own fear, some Jewish people are convinced to this day that Christians hate them.

However, Yad Vashem has a special “Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations” for Christians and others who lovingly assisted the Jewish people at the risk of their own lives; like Oskar Schindler, Irena Sendler, Miep Gies and the ten Boom sisters, Corrie and Betsie.

There are many organizations of Christians and Jewish people working alongside each other today to improve relationships between Christians and Jews, erase rumors that the Holocaust never happened, and to stand against anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity.

Want to get involved in this effort, or learn more about the Holocaust heroes mentioned above? See details at the original versions of this article on the Underground Online Magazine: Part 1 and Part 2.

(Photo: Auschwitz front entrance. Wikimedia Commons, public domain.)