International Holocaust Memorial Day

Lighting candles in remembrance at the 2023 Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in the Round Room at the Mansion House, Dublin.

Friday 27th January 2023 marks International Holocaust Memorial Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. The date marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex. On this day, we recall the suffering inflicted on the Jewish people of Europe and on those of other faiths and ethnicities, persecuted during the Holocaust. We reflect on this and on the suffering still being inflicted on people throughout the world today.

The Holocaust was intended not to have any witnesses. The Nazi plan was to erase an entire people from the history and memory of the world. The Jews were not supposed to survive. Everything was planned, thought out and organised so as not to leave any evidence of the murderous project. The existence of the gas chambers was kept hidden like a state secret. The Nazi death machine was designed to eradicate not only Jews, Roma and other peoples, but also all evidence of their annihilation. Individuals, groups and governments made choices that allowed hatred to flourish and ultimately, sanctioned mass murder.

With few Holocaust survivors left to carry the burden of memory, the lessons of history grow dangerously dim and it becomes even more important to educate generations now living. We urge all young people in our midst, to speak out against the scourge of misinformation, antisemitism, denial and distortion of the Holocaust.