In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum will have a way to commemorate the day on Friday.
January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in occupied Poland was liberated in 1945.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Southwest DC hosts a special program on Friday. Holocaust survivors share their stories, people can read the names of Holocaust victims in memorial halls, and museums hand out commemorative pins.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day was created by the United Nations in 2005 to commemorate the Jews killed in the Holocaust.
“The Declaration actually has a lot of power and a word of remembrance, and how many things are related to human rights, the prevention of genocide, the tolerance of different peoples without discrimination on the basis of race or religion… It has a lot of power in terms of reminding us of the Holocaust and its worst horrors,” Paul Shapiro, director of international affairs at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, told WTOP’s Shayna Esturin.
At 9:30 am, the museum will have a live Facebook conversation with a Holocaust survivor.
According to the museum, visitors can hear Holocaust survivors talk about their experiences from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. , visitors can reserve them on the museum’s website.
“Each person will receive a commemorative pin that represents one of the museum’s mottos: It’s what you do,” Shapiro said. “Because ultimately, preventing crimes like the Holocaust will only be possible if individuals step up and do the right thing.”
The memorial comes at a time of recurring anti-Semitism, particularly locally, with anti-Semitic graffiti at three public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland and two public schools in Loudoun County, Virginia. Discovered.
On Wednesday, a man wearing a Star of David chain was attacked while shopping at a grocery store in Gaithersburg, Md., Montgomery County police said. We are looking for additional charges.
Shapiro said a key message the Holocaust teaches people is that hatred can have “devastating” consequences if not confronted.
“For our own good, we need to push it back as hard as we can, and we need to ask our elected representatives to international organizations and ask educational institutions to push it back as hard as they can.” It will also have long-term results for us,” he said.
Follow WTOP like WTOP on Facebook twitter and Join the conversation about this and other articles on Instagram.
Sign up here to get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox.
© 2023 WTOP. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users residing within the European Economic Area.