"We survivors do not want our past to be our children's future"
years ago on Tuesday marked the liberation of Auchwitz, the concentration camp were some 1.1 million people were executed between 1940-1945. Today, only 300 survivors live to tell what the human imagination still struggles to comprehend of the Nazi genocide that took place there. Prayers for the dead were said before candles were lit at the Birkenau monument to the victims, small points of light where Europe remembers a time of darkness.
It was emotional to hear the words of those who survived Auschwitz having lived through one of the 20th Century's worst acts of hatred and imnumanity, survivor Halina Birenbaum said her greatest duty was to "tell others how much people in the camps had wanted to live".
Even after 70 years, it is important to remember the horrors experienced by those who suffered within the barbed wire fences of Auschwitz. We need to remind ourself of humanity's lowest point, were incomprehensible evil was conducted by humans to humans. It is feared that by the next pinnacle anniversary of the Holocaust, there will be no more survivors left to recall the horrific events which is vital for us to always remember. To remember the loss of life caused by one mans obsession with power. To remember those who bravely survived. To remember the unthinkable.
No amount of documentaries or ceremonies can put into perspective the terror of Auschwitz, however we continue to recollect in order to prevent such abominations to happen again. Those survivors shouldn't fear that their past will be their children's future, we as humanity should step up to prevent this from ever happening again, to understand the value of human life over anything else.
As Cathy Ashley, chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust added: "By hearing, seeing and sharing these powerful stories and memories, we are challenged to confront all forms of hatred and discrimination wherever we see them."
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