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“We Remember” – Holocaust Memorial Day

“The Power of Words”

“Silence is the first thing after hate, that is dangerous, because silence indicates approval”.

[The words of Sonia K, a Holocaust survivor, forced to reside first in the Warsaw Ghetto, before being transported to four concentration camps; namely Majdanek on the outskirts of the city of Lublin, Poland; Auschwitz, 37 miles west of Krakow, Poland; Ravensbruck, 56 mls north of Berlin, Germany; and finally, Malchow, Mecklenburg, Northern Germany.]

Every year, on the last Sunday in January, closest to the date of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland, by Russian troops (January 27th 1945); this same date across the world, has been dedicated as Holocaust Memorial Day.

During the existence of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the Schutzstaffe (SS) camp authorities murdered nearly one million Jews from across Europe, together with other victims, which included approximately 74,000 Poles, some 21,000 Roma (Gypsies), and approximately 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war.

Today, January 28th 2018, this year’s theme is ‘The Power of Words’; yes, debate can make a difference today, both for good but alas also for evil. Nevertheless, this gathering of people is to remember that over six million Jews were brutally massacred by mad men, through being forced to live in Ghetto’s; in Concentration Camps; through the use of Carbon Monoxide Gas Wagons, and the deliberate use of Zyklon B Pellets, introduced into gas chambers designed to look like shower rooms, between 1942 and 1945.
These people the majority of which were Jewish, had been brought into numerous Concentration Camps from across Europe by train and cattle truck, the sole purpose, to enslave and annihilate.

Here in Ireland a Memorial Ceremony has been held in Dublin this evening, marking National Holocaust Memorial Day, organised by the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland. include readings, survivors’ recollections, and music.

The event was held in the Mansion House, and included readings, survivors’ recollections, music and the lighting of six candles to symbolise the six million Jewish people who lost their lives. Over 100 school children from across Ireland took part in the ceremony, reading from the Scroll of Names of Irish people living here in Ireland, whose next of kin died during the Holocaust.

The ceremony was attended by Taoiseach Mr Leo Varadkar, Minister for Justice, Mr Charlie Flanagan, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Mícheál Mac Donncha, together with other dignitaries.

“We Remember”.

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