Pope Francis warned of the “scourge of antisemitism” in his Angelus prayer on Sunday, the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, noting it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“The horror of the extermination of millions of Jewish people and others of different faiths during those years must never be forgotten or denied,” Francis said, citing the example of Hungarian-born poet Edith Bruck, who lives in Rome.
“I renew my appeal for everyone to work together to eradicate the scourge of anti-Semitism, along with every form of discrimination and religious persecution,” Francis said. “Together, let us build a more fraternal, just world, educating young people to have hearts open to all, in the spirit of fraternity, forgiveness, and peace.”
He noted that many Christians were also killed in Nazi concentration camps, “among whom there were numerous martyrs.”
When is Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025?
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on Jan. 27, as designated by the United Nations General Assembly.
On Jan. 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers entered the Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest of its kind, and liberated about 7,000 prisoners.
How will the Holocaust Remembrance Day be commemorated?
Presidents, royalty, ambassadors, rabbis and priests will be joining Holocaust survivors on Monday afternoon at the site in southern Poland where Nazi Germany murdered over a million people, most of them Jews, but also Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others targeted for elimination in Adolf Hitler’s racial ideology.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum says it expects about 50 survivors of Auschwitz and other camps to attend the events.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will be livestreaming an event with three survivors, Ruth Cohen, Steven Fenves and Irene Weiss. They were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944, and for years, they couldn’t speak about the Holocaust, according to the museum.
Now, 80 years after the camp was liberated, they will recount their experiences.
Yom HaShoah
Another internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day is the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It’s called Yom HaShoah in Hebrew, and the date commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
This year, Yom HaShoah will be celebrated on Thursday, April 24, in Israel because the actual date falls on a Friday when the sabbath is observed, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In the U.S., Days of Remembrance run from the Sunday before Yom HaShoah through the following Sunday.
www.cbsnews.com