International Holocaust Remembrance Day

On January 27, 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp was liberated. More than 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the vast majority of them were Jewish. In 2005, January 27 was designated as the annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Each year, Canadians and people around the world pause to remember the six million Jews murdered as well as the other victims of Nazi persecution, and to reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust. It is also a time to acknowledge and confront the enduring dangers of antisemitism, hatred, and intolerance.