The 27th of January marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. During this day we remember a crucial part of human history, the Holocaust.

The Holocaust was the genocide of approximately 6 million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. 6 million is an incomprehensible number. To hold a minute of silence for every holocaust victim, one would have to stay silent for 11 and a half years. The majority of us will struggle to imagine a number too huge to picture in our minds. 

Remembering, the Holocaust is not about remembering the statistics. It is about remembering what was the loss of life; the loss of communities; the loss of culture. The Holocaust caused widespread devastation across many communities such as gypsies/sinti/roma and LGBTQ+.

Jews lived in Europe for thousands of years before the Holocaust and came from distinctly diverse backgrounds. They spoke various languages, followed different religious practices and identified in personal ways - through politics, religion, nationality and more. Every one of them had their own life before the Holocaust. Humanizing the Holocaust is seeing it through personal stories of victims and survivors not numbers or statistics. It is about acknowledging all involved, whether the perpetrators or victims, were human. 

The 27th of January is the day we reflect upon the Holocaust and how it is still relevant today. Anti-semitism didn't start nor stop with the Holocaust. We can create a safer present and a better future by keeping the truth alive and challenging the kind of racism and hatred that drove Nazis to commit genocide.

Written by Kasia Jaruchowska