The solemn commemoration came amid a worldwide spike in antisemitism and new surveys suggesting basic knowledge of the Holocaust is eroding.
Lali Sokolov – better known as the Tattooist of Auschwitz, who was immortalised in the 2018 book that has sold more than 13 million copies in 40 languages – has done more to keep the horrors of the Second World War alive than most in recent memory.
Auschwitz survivors have warned of the rising antisemitism and hatred in the modern world as they gathered with world leaders and European royalty on the 80th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation.
The Daily Express and the Daily Mirror both feature a picture of an elderly Holocaust survivor who returned to Auschwitz for Monday's ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of its liberation. The Express captions the image "returning to hell", while the Mirror's headline reads "it is our duty to remember".
January 27, 2025, marks Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. CNN’s Melissa Bell sits down with survivors to speak about the importance of this specific anniversary.
That creates risks: the Holocaust didn’t begin with mass murder. The dehumanization of Jews progressed gradually from public exclusion to eventual internment to finally extermination. Millions of regular Germans—and Europeans more broadly—facilitated or silently accepted these actions.
The ceremony is widely regarded as the last major observance likely to see a significant number of survivors in attendance.
During World War II, men, women and children were transported from across Europe to Auschwitz-Birkenau, horrendous journeys in which they were packed into cramped cattle cars.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the families of two survivors who resettled in Pittsburgh shared their stories.
Auschwitz survivors warned of the dangers of rising antisemitism on Monday, as they marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp by Soviet troops in one of the last such gatherings of those who experienced its horrors.
It doesn’t do any good for your heart, for your mind, for anything,” said Holocaust survivor Jona Laks, 94, about her return to Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Friday and Saturday, the Los Angeles Ballet will present Melissa Barak’s Memoryhouse, about Jewish lives during the Holocaust