The slogan over the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp translates to work "makes you free". The camp was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. Photo / Tracey Grant
The slogan over the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp translates to work "makes you free". The camp was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. Photo / Tracey Grant
Today, it has been 77 years since the Red Army liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, so communities throughout New Zealand are coming together to mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Public commemorations will be held in Auckland and Christchurch, while Hamilton's function will be held in private.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate will be a guest speaker at the Hamilton event, together with Unesco Waikato Youth Leader Ethan Jerome-Leota, US Consul-General Sarah Nelson, and Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon. At the event there will be candle lighting, two poems will be read, a prayer and a minute's silence.
Southgate says it was important to learn from the past. "The Holocaust reminds us how important it is to reject hateful ideologies in all forms. To honour those millions who died in the Holocaust we must all play our part in stamping out prejudice, racism and hate in all forms.
"In a culturally diverse and rich city like Hamilton, there is no place for racial division. I want a city that embraces diversity and enriches the lives of all citizens. Our differences must unite and not divide us."
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, established by the United Nations in 2005, has a theme every year - this year's is Memory, Dignity and Justice.
Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell. Photo / Supplied
New Zealanders who stood up to the Nazis during World War II, including soldiers who fought German forces and bore witness to the atrocities, are being recognised at events held in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Nelson and Christchurch.
A keynote speaker at the Auckland War Memorial Museum event is Chief of the Army, Major General John Boswell, who will speak about the part the New Zealand army, navy and air force played in Nazi Germany's defeat.
"In May 1945, the 2NZEF captured Trieste in northern Italy and found the Nazi concentration and death camp called the Risiera di San Sabba. There they saw first hand the atrocities Jewish people had suffered," he says.
Holocaust Centre of New Zealand chairwoman Deborah Hart says Holocaust survivors and New Zealand's Jewish community thank the Defence Force for being "upstanders not bystanders". "Without such resistance, the situation for Jewish people in Europe would have been even more tragic."
Holocaust Centre of New Zealand chairwoman Deborah Hart. Photo / Supplied
Holocaust survivor Vera Krukziener says she owes her life to her mother and father, as well as nuns in their home town of Budapest, Hungary, and renowned Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who provided safe houses for Jewish families.
"They refused to accept the Nazis' plan to exterminate the Jews. Their resistance continues to amaze me to this day and I will be forever grateful for their actions."
The Holocaust (1933–1945) was the systematic genocide of about 6 million European Jews and millions of other minorities the Nazi regime declared "racially inferior".
You can visit the website of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand here.
You can find the programme of the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2022 here.
