USC Shoah Foundation Commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day
80th Anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau Liberation Honors Victims and Survivors
On January 27, 1945, Allied Forces liberated the camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Each year on this anniversary, the world observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a solemn occasion for us all to affirm our commitment to Holocaust remembrance and education and to a world that respects and knows the histories of the victims and survivors of this terrible crime.
“This year’s commemoration is particularly poignant because it marks eighty years since the liberation of Auschwitz,” noted Dr. Robert J. Williams, Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Chair of the USC Shoah Foundation, who also serves as the Advisor to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and is UNESCO Chair on Antisemitism and Holocaust Research.
Soon, the last of the survivors will leave us and no longer be able to share their histories in person. At the same time, antisemitism and hate seem only to be growing the world over.
“Today, we are confronted again with the need to remind the world that antisemitism did not begin or end with the Holocaust. As the child of Holocaust survivors, it is unacceptable that Jewish communities the world over continue to be subject to scorn, aggression, and murderous violence,” said USC Shoah Foundation Board Chair Joel Citron.
It is more important than ever to simultaneously preserve and share Holocaust testimonies, engage in new educational outreach efforts, encourage new research, and understand how Holocaust memory can inform our understanding of contemporary challenges. Through its strategic partnerships and leading roles in international forums, the USC Shoah Foundation works across borders to safeguard the historical record, to help stem the rising tide of antisemitism and hate, and to strengthen and share resources for more Holocaust education and research.
“We at the USC Shoah Foundation have a responsibility to continue to build and strengthen local and global efforts to research and teach this essential history, The future of Holocaust education, scholarship, and commemorative efforts require stronger partnerships between institutions, governments, and the wider community of Holocaust remembrance,” Williams said.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, countries around the world host events dedicated to remembering and learning. To help support the ceremonial reading of names and candle-lightings, lectures, film screenings, and discussions with survivors, the USC Shoah Foundation’s Why do we remember? activity allows learners the opportunity to reflect on how and why we remember this history today.
The mission of the USC Shoah Foundation is to collect, preserve, and share survivor testimonies to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and to build a future for all that rejects antisemitism, hatred, dehumanization, and genocide. With offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, the USC Shoah Foundation provides innovative educational, research, and outreach opportunities and key learning resources for the world. The testimony archive is home to more than 61,000 testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust, contemporary antisemitism, the Armenian Genocide and other historical events of genocide. It is the largest such collection in the world.