We must never forget

International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan^. 27 marks a pivotal day in both Jewish and world history.

This year, the day is even more poignant than usual, as it marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—the concentration camp where over a million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime. The Holocaust, or “Shoah” as it’s referred to in Hebrew, serves as a testament to the dangers that hate in its purest can have when left unbridled.

With recent trends surrounding the rise in antisemitic behaviour, it’s more important now than ever to examine and the events of the Shoah, in efforts to create a better future for all of humanity. With a 670 per cent increase of antisemitic attacks since Oct. 7, 2023, an urgent need for increased Holocaust-oriented education has become apparent, alongside a greater emphasis on remembrance efforts, in order to strengthen knowledge and abolish antisemitism entirely.

Remembrance is a key tool in both learning about and repairing the wounds of the past. By ing, we not only pay tribute to those who perished during the Holocaust but carry on their legacy as well.Remembrance is also fundamental in the process of sharing and spreading the testimonies of survivors, an action that’s more important now than ever as the number of living survivors  begins to dwindle.

My whole life, I’ve been taught the importance of remembrance, and how ing the past can provide us with tools needed to build and cultivate a better future. By ing past violence and oppression, each person contributes to the formation of a world in which everyone is accepted and treated as equal, no matter their background, race, identity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

This year, remembrance has looked a little different for me, as I had the opportunity to experience one of the most impactful and arguably important things one can: a Nazi concentration camp.

Together with my family, I flew to , to witness what can be labelled as the product of pure evil: Dachau Concentration Camp. While many omit this in planning their European vacations, my experience at Dachau, one of the first and longest running camps, only further affirmed what I knew before: this can never happen again.

Built in the spring of 1933, Dachau was considered the prototype for all camps that were to be built after it. Originally used as a prison for political prisoners, it became the place in which tens of thousands were murdered, the largest group being Jews. The camp itself is bordered by a large wall, equipped with a cast-iron gate which reads what is perhaps the greatest lie ever told: “Work will set you free.”

Most horrifying of all, is the gas chamber. No bigger than the average house, it was in this building where cruelty on the most unimaginable level took place. Rooms disguised as showers, where hundreds were led each day with the promise of being able to clean-up after weeks of hard labour, only to be killed almost immediately upon arrival. At the back of the building is a room filled with large ovens, the crematorium. This is the place where innocent people were burned each day, in attempt to destroy evidence of the crimes being committed. People of all ages, whose lives ended in a split second, some before they even began, as some of Dachau’s youngest victims were as young as a few days old.

My experience was about as raw and emotionally jarring as one would imagine. I stood on the very soil where all the horrible transgressions which we learn about in history books, documentaries, and movies happened. I saw the boxes of shoes, wedding rings, books, and other miscellaneous items that belonged to those who were murdered in the rooms I walked through—subjected to unimaginable cruelty for nearly a decade as Hitler’s expansion raged on.

My emotions were only heightened by the overwhelming sense of fear I felt—fear that this could happen again. Fear that society might forget events of the past, causing us to fall back into our dangerous past behavioural patterns, allowing events like those of the Shoah to repeat themselves again and again.

Upon leaving Dachau, this sense of fear didn’t stay behind. It has stuck with me since, and upon revisiting what the past year and a half has been like for Jewish people and allies across Canada, I realize it had been with me before.  

Toronto Police force revealed that 50 per cent of hate crimes at the beginning of 2024 were targeted towards Jewish people. Hamas’ slaughter of over 1200 innocent Jewish and Israeli civilians, and abduction of 251, including 86-year-old Holocaust survivor Shlomo Mansour on Oct. 7, 2023, reveal an eerily similar picture mirroring that of and Western Europe in the 1930s and 40s, highlighting the urgency for action, and increased education and commemoration efforts, specifically in areas surrounding the Holocaust, and the history of antisemitism itself.

The hope with these educational and commemorative efforts is people will be able to understand and recognize antisemitic hate where and when the see it, notably online, on college campuses and in the workplace.  

Living in the digital age, we’re being propelled into a new era of hate. Untrue stereotypes, racial-profiling, and misinformation are more accessible than ever, making it easier to get swept up into the chaos and madness that hatefulness creates. These are just a few of the threats that exist in our society today—threats that we can, and must, extinguish by learning, ing, and sharing.

Many believe in order to feel connected to the Holocaust, they must either be Jewish or be connected on a personal level. This is largely untrue, as the Holocaust isn’t only a Jewish issue, but a humanitarian issue as well.

Only when the camp was liberated by the American army in April of 1945 did the people living in Dachau and other surrounding areas realize by staying silent, they were part of the issue.

This year I encourage you to be different than they were, and to not only call out hate and antisemitism when you recognize it, but to as well, as by ing, you’re keeping the stories of those who were murdered and their legacies alive.

If you’ve never participated in an act of remembrance, I strongly urge you to do so this year. Whether it be on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or any other day, take a moment to the over six million Jews, and millions of other victims who perished at the hands of the Nazi regime. the mothers, fathers, babies, children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas whose lives were taken from them for no reason at all. the people who had dreams of a future filled with joy and light, who’s dreams never became a reality. , so we can never forget what happened.

History has the opportunity to repeat itself, and by ing, we have the power to stop it from doing so.

Maren is a second-year Economics and Political Science Student, and StandWithUs Canada Emerson Fellow.

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