International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Editorial staff / English translation: Andrew Rajcher, 26 January 2020

Auschwitz – the Nazi-German concentration and extermination camp – has become an international symbol. The anniversary of its liberation, 27th January 1945, has been designated by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. To mark the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation, we have selected several stories of Jews who survived the Holocaust and of Poles who have been honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations, all of whom were prisoners in the camp and who helped Jews within the camp itself. Also, check out the program of commemorations planned by POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

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“We were taken out of the car and pushed towards the gate with the sign »Arbeit macht frei«. [...] Our personal belongings were taken away, the hair was shaved from our heads and other parts of our bodies. A prisoner approached us, carrying shirts and threw one to each of us in turn. I grabbed a shirt from the air, then pants – then the grey-blue striped uniforms – pants, shirt, cap and, finally, wooden shoes”.
– Jerzy Radwanek, a prisoner in Auschwitz, a Righteous Among the Nations.

Seventy five years ago, soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front entered the German Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. In the mother camp Auschwitz I, Auschitz II (Birkenau) and Auschwitz III (Monowitz), barely 7,000 prisoners had survived top see that liberation. To 27th January 1945, the majority of the prisoners had been taken by the Germans east, on the “death march”.

The Stories of Auschwitz Prisoners

In Auschwitz, citizens from almost all German-occupied European countries were imprisoned and murdered. More than 1.1 million did not live to see liberation. In 2005, at the initiative of the United Nations, the anniversary of the liberationof Auschwitz is commemorated around the world as “International Holocaust Remembrance Day”.

It is difficult to find the words to describe the immensity fo the cruelty which was the Holocaust. It makes the words of those who survived even more important. Every year, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we present a selection of survivor stories from POLIN Museum collection, based on interviews with witnesses to history. We also present artefacts from POLIN Museum collection.

» Read: Stories of the Righteous in Auschwitz

This year, we have prepared a selection of stories of Poles, honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations, who were prisoners in Auschwitz and whohelped Jews within the camp itself.

Come to the POLIN Museum

International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration in Warsaw will take place on Monday 27th January at 12 noon at the Ghetto Heroes Memorial monument. As every year, the Shalom Foundation, organiser of this commemoration, calls on symbolic candles to be lit at 6:00pm.

Following the commemoration, at 3:30pm, the public is invited to POLIN Museum auditorium for a direct transmission of the ceremony in Auschwitz.

As part of the 75th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, the POLIN Museum has prepared the following events:

24th January (Friday), 12 noon – a performance by Cantor David Wiśnia, an Auschwitz Survivor;
25th January (Saturday), 7:00pm – a performance by the Trans-Atlantic Theatre of “Karl Koecker’s Album”;
26th January (Sunday), 2:00pm – a walk through two galleries of POLIN’s Permanent Exhibition “The Holocaust” and “Post-War” galleries;
26th January (Sunday), 5:00pm – the premiere screening of the film “Falenicka Atlantyda”, followed by a discussion;
27th January (Monday), 6:00pm – a discussion on the book “Arka. Opowieść o życiu i przetrwaniu”;
29th January (Wednesday), 6:00pn – a discussion “Did God Die in Auschwitz? A Jewish Theological Reflection on the Holocaust”.

In addition, from 27th January, in POLIN Museum’s Historical Information Centre, two original drawings from the book “Mendel’s Daughter: A Memoir” will be exhibited.