Which Date?

-       Having worked at the USHMM in Washington DC and researching the Holocaust I have learned the following: there has been great debate over the past 70+ years on whether to celebrate Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th or in April/May. Some believe it should be when the Soviet Red Army liberated the Jews from Auschwitz (January 27th) and others believe it should be in April/May when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising happened. January 27th is seen by some – especially the Israelis as when the Jews needed outside help to stop being “sheep led to the slaughter” while April/May is seen by people – especially the Israelis as when the Jews knew what was going to happen to them and decided to die fighting the Germans (the second Masada Siege.)

-          International Holocaust Remembrance Day was designated by the United Nations in 2005 for January 27th every year (the date the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz.) The date has been celebrated by the EC/EU since 1950 – mostly due to the Western European Socialist and Communist Parties wanting to praise and honor the Soviet Communists during the Cold War.

-          Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day is held in either April or May according to the Jewish Year. This year it starts at sunset on April 11, 2018 and ends at sunset on April 12, 2018. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising lasted from April 19-May 16, 1943 (longer than many countries had withstood the invading German armies in 1940.)

From July 23-September 21, 1942; 265,000 men, women and children were deported by the Germans from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka Death Camp. Those remaining in the Ghetto learned about the death camps and what happened to their friends and family. On April 19, 1943 (the start of Passover) the Germans started to deport the remaining Jews to Treblinka and have Warsaw “Free of Jews” before Hitler’s Birthday on April 30th.  13,000 Jews were killed in the Ghetto during the uprising (some 6,000 among them were burnt alive or died from smoke inhalation). Of the remaining 50,000 residents, most were captured and shipped to Treblinka.

-          In 1979, the US Congress created the “The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH)” held every year. It is 8 days of civic commemorations and special educational programs chosen to include Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day and April 28th when American soldiers liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp.

-          Many European countries have different, local dates according to what happened in their territory during the Holocaust. 

-          In two months I will visit Auschwitz so this year’s 73rd anniversary of the end of World War 2 and the Holocaust has even more significance to me. The picture is one I took of the Gas Chamber (Brausebad means “Shower”) at the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany.