Holocaust Memorial Museum to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day with activities

Jan. 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the day of liberation at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in occupied Poland in 1945.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Southwest D.C. is holding special programming on Friday. Holocaust survivors will share their stories, people can read the names of Holocaust victims in the Hall of Remembrance and the museum will hand out commemorative pins.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day was created in 2005 by the United Nations to remember the Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.

“The declaration actually has a lot of power and commemorative terms and a lot of power in terms of reminding us how many issues human rights, genocide prevention, tolerance of people who are different nondiscrimination based on race, religion, … how many things relate back to the Holocaust, and its worst horrors,” Paul Shapiro, Director of International Affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, told WTOP’s Shayna Estulin.

At 9:30 a.m., the museum will have a live conversation on Facebook with a Holocaust survivor.

The museum said visitors would hear Holocaust survivors talk about their experiences from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, they can read the names of the victims in the museum’s Hall of Remembrance from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are required to go inside the museum, and visitors can secure them on the museum’s website.

“Each person will receive a commemorative pin that presents one of the museum’s mottos, which is what you do matter,” Shapiro said. “Because in the end, the prevention of crimes like the Holocaust is only possible if individuals step forward and do the right thing.”

This commemoration comes at a time when antisemitism has been a recurring thing, especially locally with antisemitic graffiti being found drawn in three Montgomery County, Maryland, Public Schools and in two Loudoun County, Virginia, Public Schools.

On Wednesday, a man wearing a Star of David chain was assaulted while shopping at a grocery store in Gaithersburg, Maryland, police from Montgomery County said. The police department is exploring the possibility of additional hate crime charges.

Shapiro said the important message the Holocaust teaches people is that hate can bring “catastrophic” consequences if not confronted.

“In our own interest, we need to push back on that as hard as we can, and ask our elected representatives ask international organizations, ask educational institutions to push back as hard as they can because otherwise, we don’t know what the long term consequences for everyone will be,” he said.

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