JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1841
AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU LIBERATED BY SOVIET TROOPS 71 YEARS AGO
Today's date was chosen because the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau*, located in Poland, was liberated by troops of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics on January 27, 1945.
Special events will be held today around the world. In the United States, President Barack Obama will attend an event at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will present two programs.
The first, at 11 a.m., will feature Peter Wittig, German ambassador to the U.S. and a Holocaust survivor while the second, at 2 p.m., will include a discussion about how the lessons of the Holocaust can help "educate youth, combat extremism, and stand up to antisemitism and violence against religious minorities." This program will feature three European ambassadors and an editor from the Washington Post.
According to the Jerusalem Post, 81 year old survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, Marta Wise, will speak to the United Nations today on behalf of the state of Israel.
She remarked...
"As a child in A-B, I could have never imagined that one day I would represent the state of Israel at the U.N."
SOURCES
"Survivors to address UN on International Holocaust Rememberance Day," The Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2016, www.jpost.com/
"World Marks International Holocaust Rememberance Day," by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, January 27, 2016, www.usatoday.com/
*Auschwitz-Birkenau, located in Oswiecim, Poland, was established on May 26, 1940. A-B was divided into 3 major camps. Auschwitz I was the main camp, Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, was the extermination camp, and Auschwitz III, or Monowitz, was the work camp. Between 2.1 & 2.5 million people died in the gas chambers of A-B.
Special events will be held today around the world. In the United States, President Barack Obama will attend an event at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will present two programs.
The first, at 11 a.m., will feature Peter Wittig, German ambassador to the U.S. and a Holocaust survivor while the second, at 2 p.m., will include a discussion about how the lessons of the Holocaust can help "educate youth, combat extremism, and stand up to antisemitism and violence against religious minorities." This program will feature three European ambassadors and an editor from the Washington Post.
According to the Jerusalem Post, 81 year old survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, Marta Wise, will speak to the United Nations today on behalf of the state of Israel.
She remarked...
"As a child in A-B, I could have never imagined that one day I would represent the state of Israel at the U.N."
SOURCES
"Survivors to address UN on International Holocaust Rememberance Day," The Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2016, www.jpost.com/
"World Marks International Holocaust Rememberance Day," by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, January 27, 2016, www.usatoday.com/
*Auschwitz-Birkenau, located in Oswiecim, Poland, was established on May 26, 1940. A-B was divided into 3 major camps. Auschwitz I was the main camp, Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, was the extermination camp, and Auschwitz III, or Monowitz, was the work camp. Between 2.1 & 2.5 million people died in the gas chambers of A-B.
United States Holocaust Museum
Photo by John White (2007)
