Wednesday, January 27, was the 71st anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp — an International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
On the 69th anniversary I wrote about how the Dutch Jewish population, including the de Wind family, was immensely and disproportionately affected by the Holocaust.
But, I also wrote, that the article was about more: “about what ‘humanity’ can do to humanity if we — you and I — allow it.”
One year later, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, I noted another sad trend: The rapidly dwindling number of survivors of the Shoah who are still alive and concluded as follows:
Let us hope that even after the last survivor’s voice is gone, the world will still be listening to the voices of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and of Sobibór, and of Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, Treblinka, Belzec, and the voices of Louis de Wind and of the other 6 million Jews on whose behalf we keep proclaiming, “Never again.”
I asked readers to please watch a video, “The world will be listening to the voices of Auschwitz,” only 32 seconds long, yet conveying an eternity of grief, below.
Since then we have had several tragedies, events and movements — even religious and sectarian wars and political campaigns — around the world reflecting not only anti-Semitic but also anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrants and anti-refugees intolerance and hatred, all of which could sadly lead to the conclusion that we are still not listening to the voices of Auschwitz.
Last year, also on the 70th anniversary, the BBC flew a drone over the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp “giving the world a chance to see the ruins of the concentration camp – where 1.1 million people died — as they’ve never seen it before.”
I had not seen the video, two minutes and 29 seconds short, but again conveying an eternity of powerful and haunting images.
In the hope that we may yet listen to the voices of Auschwitz, here it is one year later.
Read more about the video here
Lead image (The unloading ramp and the main gate at Auschwitz, called the “Gate of Death”) and video, “The world will be listening to the voices of Auschwitz,” courtesy www.auschwitz.org
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.