Around January 27, I noticed a few things popping up on Facebook, statics such as that 22% of millennials in the U.S. weren’t sure what the Holocaust was. Or that 41 percent of them believe two million or fewer Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Or that two-thirds weren’t sure what Auschwitz was. And even though I thought I knew my history (such as that 5 to 6 million Jews were actually murdered during this dark time), I finally just now am getting around to learning the significance of January 27.
On January 27, 1945, the Nazi's largest concentration camp at Auschwitz in southern Poland was liberated. During just that camp’s existence, up to 1 million Jews,75,000 Poles, 21,000 Gypsies, and 15,000 Soviet POWs were killed there.
Unfortunately, and very sadly, there are people who, even after hearing these statistics, still don’t believe them. Even vehemently deny them, opting to believe some crazy anti-semitic conspiracy theory instead. I wonder if these people also deny that more recently thousands of innocent people were victims of genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
The thing is history does repeat itself. Which is one of the reasons why January 27 is designated as Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a day in which we should learn from the lessons of the past and realize that genocide does not just take place on its own. It begins with misunderstanding and prejudice and grows into discrimination, racism and hatred.
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| At the Dachau Concentration Camp Site in Germany, when my daughter was there with her class in 2008. At least, maybe some of our kids will remember. |
There are many memoirs written on the subject, from “The Diary of Anne Frank” to “Left to Tell”. The most recent one I’ve read is “A Boy from Bustina: A Son. A Survivor. A Witness” by Andrew Burian.
A sheltered boy from the small town of Bustina (then Czechoslovakia, now Ukraine), Andrew had a beautiful carefree childhood. At the age of thirteen, his world was shattered. Andrew's wartime odyssey began with deportation from his hometown to Mateszalka ghetto in Hungary. From there, Andrew and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he survived countless selections and near-death experiences. In the freezing winter of 1945, he survived the infamous 'death march' evacuation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and was loaded into a cattle car for the long journey to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Andrew survived another death-march to the Gunskirchen concentration camp from which he was ultimately liberated by the U.S. Army. Andrew's journey took him through Hungary, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, England and, finally, the USA where he made a new life. (from Amazon.com)
Mr. Burian’s story was amazing and moving, and I would recommend anyone to read it. But the book was also gut-wrenching at times. Visions of the horrible experiences the author and so many others lived through during the Holocaust floated before me, haunting me. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. This is the kind of book that everyone should read. It's only in learning more about the dark times of WWII that we can hopefully learn and not relive those times. With all the madness going on in the world today, I fear that something like the Holocaust could indeed happen again. By remembering our past, hopefully, we can avoid reliving it.
On the bright side, the author shared what these experiences taught him and most importantly, what his father had taught him. Things which got the author through the darkest days. Things which could help any of us as well.
Thank you, Mr. Burain, for honestly and openly sharing your life with us. God bless.
For more information on the Holocaust, click on this link.
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